


Explosions (Between two of us)

by Iron_Winter



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Iron Man - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Drama, Explicit Language, F/M, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-26
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-07-18 10:38:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 57,726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7311592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iron_Winter/pseuds/Iron_Winter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"TOGETHER WE STAND BECAUSE FIRE IS OUR ENEMY."</p>
<p>Adeline Montana is a unique thirty-year-old woman who lives in Los Angeles. She had a life like any other average person - she had a fine job as a waitress, some friends, and a party life. Even though she was single, Adeline was happy. Until the day when everything changed. Evil came to the town. It was spreading fear and fire. It had one mission - find the one with a cure in veins.<br/>Everything started the night when famous Tony Stark met Adeline - a woman with a mask on her face. Will they be able to team up and win over evil? </p>
<p>Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ayDNNQXGqY</p>
<p>Under editing! -</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One - Party

**Author's Note:**

> THERE ARE SO MANY MISTAKES, GUYS. I'm so sorry. I'm trying to edit it, but I don't have the time for it.

Chapter One - Party

This was one of the nights when she was just sitting on her comfortable bed, watching the news on the TV, and didn’t care about the job she was doing. It was finally Saturday – that time of the week when she had a day off. This meant a regular girly day – nails, hair, some cooking and picking clothes for the party she was invited to. It should be just her, some friends from work and the best free drinks in the town. 

She was a thirty-year-old woman, who was living in a small flat in the center of Los Angeles with no boyfriend or a pet. That was the reason she went to these parties with girls and tried to find someone – if not for a relationship than just for fun. Sometimes she thought this was the problem – acting like a strumpet, sleeping with someone for pleasure, and enjoying life. However, she knew there was a much different issue. 

While she was watching the news, her phone rang. She immediately grabbed the device and accepted the call. “Hi Mon,” she said with a sweet tone. “When will you arrive at my place?” 

-Hi, Adeline! Well, there has been a little change in our plan, - said Monica from the other line. –Can we please meet in the club?- 

“Why?” Adeline didn’t understand. “Is everything okay? What about the other girls?”

There was a small pause. Her friend sighed. –Unfortunately, only me and Jen are coming. The boss called and needed some people to work, - she explained. –You know how it goes. He didn’t pick us because we were working last weekend. I hope it is okay.- 

There was nothing she could do but just nod. “Okay, it’s fine. I understand. So, see you in the club at eight?” she brushed her long hair with fingers and sighed. Adeline hated when something immediately changed. Now she wasn’t that excited for the party. After the call, she started to get ready. It was six in the afternoon, the sun was still up in the sky and the weather was warm. Adeline stood up from the bed and went to the balcony. She could see the nice view of L.A. She lived in a high building on the west edge of the town. 

Adeline sat down in a lotus position, took a deep breath a just watched the town for a moment. She liked to do this – it was her own way of meditation and relaxation. The world was so big. Everything changed ever since there was an attack in Los Angeles. She remembered that day. People were screaming, running away from the fighting scene between two men in special suits. They could fly; they had special guns as a part of the suit. She remembered even the noise and explosions. The cars were on fire, buildings were destroyed. That night, she was the one who saved many lives, while the fight went into a location of Stark Industries. Adeline saved a mother with her children before their car exploded. 

The brunette closed her eyes. Every moment from that night, she could see it like a movie, right in front of her eyes. The woman thanked her with a big smile on her face while she was holding her children close to her. They were frightened. Adeline knew what she had to do. They had to promise, they won’t tell anyone. They can’t tell about what they saw – a girl, which was quite unusual. 

-…and another important fact is, during another lawsuit, Tony Stark once again won against the government. As we all know, this man certainly knows what he’s doing. The last time he saved the people against the evil Ivan Vanko, was in a Stark Expo in New York. - Adeline turned her head behind when she heard some woman talking about this millionaire. The news was just about this man, nothing else. –Tony Stark also says: This is the time of my life where I’m doing what I was meant to do… Yes, Tony, we all can see that, - said the woman with a laugh. 

Adeline rolled over her eyes and rather stopped listening to this nonsense. Once again, she focused her mind on the view of the town. Unfortunately, they were still talking about Stark. She was so sick of him. It is said, he’s a national hero, but if they only knew how he “saved the people”. 

“Time to get ready,” she said to herself. She locked herself in a bathroom where she took a nice hot shower. It always helped her to get rid of bad thoughts. The water washed the darkness away. She felt free, much happier and even the excitement of the party went back. After it, it was time for a nice but easy make-up, sexy but not slutty dark-blue dress with black ankle boots. She took her time because she wanted to look good. The last touch was her hair. It was straight, but she created amazing curls with a hair straightener. 

When Adeline looked at herself in the mirror, she just smiled at her reflexion and fixed her curls with fingers. In the end, she took a small purse where she put the keys, ID card, and some money. As a last touch, she put some perfume on her neck. Now she was ready to go. 

The club was about half an hour away by walk from her apartment. She called for a taxi which drove her to that place in Downtown. The location was in a very luxury street. There were a lot of expensive cars, people were dressed in the best clothes, and the building was spectacular with a huge sign full of various colors. It was one of the biggest clubs in LA. 

The time changed. It was sunset, and the weather was warmer. Adeline wasn’t on time. Her next assignment was to find her girls. They were probably sitting in their booth and already drinking with some cute guys. It was already nine and she was surprisingly late, because of the traffic jam. Usually, Adeline was the first one to be there than her other friends. 

There was a huge queue. People nervously stood there, waiting to get inside and have fun. But the security wouldn’t let them because they need a ticket or to be on the list. Adeline went straight to them. With a wide smile on her face and a wink, one of the men let her in. They knew her very well. She was a regular and one of them was a very good friend (with benefits) with Monica. “Thanks, guys,” said Adeline with a sweet voice and went inside. 

The music was loud; the entrance hall was full of people, writing their names on the walls – especially tourists did that. Adeline brushed her hair on the right side of the shoulder. She went through the hall right into the center of the party. It was incredible – the lights, huge screens everywhere, dancing people with luminous necklaces bouncing on their necks. One thing was different. A lot of women had masks on their faces. Some were white with fake diamonds; some were dark with feathers on the right side of their mask. This place was sometimes full of surprises, and this was one of it. 

“Would you like one for ten dollars?” a man came to her and showed his portable board which was hinged on his neck. There were a lot of them and she found blue one which fitted with her dress. 

“How about five dollars and a kiss on your cheek, cute boy,” she winked at him at took the money out of her purse. “I think that’s an offer which can’t be rejected.” She tried to flirt with him a little, and it was working. 

“Well,” he sighed, handed her the mask she picked and came closer to her. “You are one lucky young lady. You got the deal,” he nodded. That was the moment when she gave him a sweet kiss on his cheek. 

“Thank you, handsome,” she said with an even bigger smile on her face and put on the mask. She waved him and continued walking away. 

Their seats were between the VIP section and the bar where there has usually been a lot of people waiting for their drinks. Jen also had friends in this club – at the bar, so they didn’t have to wait in the line and scream what they want for a drink. Adeline just remembered that one guy who was always coming to them with their order. She looked up at the stage where her favorite DJ was, who was also a friend of hers. He was having a great time while mixing the music, and creating new beats and songs. He was bald but very cute. A lot of girls were talking to him, asking for a song to play. 

“Adeline!” screamed Monica her name and waved her hand. “You are finally here! You are late, I can’t believe it!” she laughed. 

“So sorry I’m late!” she came to her two friends and gave them a hug. “Actually, it wasn’t my fault. There was an enormous traffic jam on my side of town. Ugh,” she rolled her eyes and took a seat next to Jen. “So, what’s going on? Oh, we already have some drinks!” Adeline had to speak loudly because the music was way too loud.

Monica looked amazing with a perfect bun on the top of her head and with nice make-up. She didn’t have any mask with her which was good. However, her dress was way too short and it had a big neckline which wasn’t attractive at all. At least the color was fine – dark-green with a golden belt. Adeline didn’t say anything to her. She couldn’t do it. But Jen had a pretty dress – yellow with a wider skirt and her neck was decorated with this beautiful necklace. The back was made of soft lace. She never looked so innocent. Her short blond hair was straight and she had a headband on the top of her head. 

“Nothing much,” said Jen. “I’ll probably end up this morning with my cute bartender.” Jen was twenty years old and she wasn’t looking for a serious relationship. She was young and enjoying the life. She was originally from Montreal, Canada, but she decided to move to L.A. when her parents got divorced. She lived with her mother. “I love the fact that he doesn’t want anything serious. We are friends with the best benefits.”

“How cute,” said Adeline. “At least you know you are getting something this night. Not like me,” she moved her shoulders. “I just want to enjoy this night with my friends, dance and drink a little.”

“And in the end, she will end with somebody,” Monica laughed. “It’s okay, I don’t judge.”

“Jokes on you, Monica. I’m not leaving tonight with anyone,” she grabbed her glass of vodka. She wanted to make a toast, but Jen interrupted her. 

“Have you seen the news today?” She started a new topic. 

“Yes, I have,” Adeline nodded. 

“Oh, so you know about the attack in San Francisco?” said Jen and raised her eyebrows. This made Adeline choke. This was shocking news for her. “As I can see you haven’t seen the news. Well, there was this guy who attacked the local museum. They didn’t say much about it, but there was a huge fire. The victims said the weird guy was looking for someone.” 

“Did somebody die?” Monica asked. “Wow, this is unbelievable. Just imagine, you are spending time with your family, and suddenly someone ruins this day by threatening everybody around with fire! Why do people do this?”

Adeline put the small glass of vodka to her lips and suddenly drank it. This news was shocking to her. Yes, she was watching the news today, unfortunately, the bad one. She was from San Francisco and her family still lived there. Her father didn’t even call her just to make her sure they were alright. It was too late for a phone call now. It was a very bad sign. “Okay, girls. Enough with the bad news and let’s have fun, shall we?” She stood up from the table and reached her hand to Jen. This was the only way how she could change the subject. 

The DJ was playing their favorite songs and remixes. The dance floor was full of wild dancing people. The girls were having so much fun, even though some men were trying to seduce them. It was Adeline, who made them leave her and girls alone. They were that kind of guys who were up to no good. 

-Ladies and gentlemen, please make some noise for our very special guest and my friend, Tony Stark!-

The crowd went insane. Girls were screaming, men were whistling and they gave a huge applause to this special guest. Everybody stopped dancing and enjoyed this moment. Up on the stage, a man showed up and waved to the crowd. He even showed them the sign of peace and smiled. There was a golden watch on his wrist and as usual, he had sunglasses stuck on his nose. 

Adeline rolled her eyes, crossed her hands on chest and rather went back to her booth. She didn’t like him at all. He was an arrogant rich man who pretended to be a hero. He wasn’t a hero – not for her. A hero would protect the people and save their lives no matter what. 

“Hey, why did you leave?” Monica came to the booth just to drink her vodka and orange juice. “Come back and have fun! It’s getting better and better!” she smiled. 

“I’ll find you. Just go. I have to write a text message,” Adeline winked at her friend. She wasn’t lying. She needed to write a text message to her father and ask if they were okay. Monica went back on the dance floor. The brunette sat down, grabbed her mobile from the purse, and immediately started to write the message. Her fingers were gliding on the screen. What if her father would want to call her back instead of writing? 

She stood up, took her stuff and went to the bathroom. She was passing by the VIP section – snobby and rich people were enjoying their fancy champagne, they were laughing and living their life. Probably a lot of them didn’t have to work as hard as she had to. Was he jealous? Was she envious, because they had money and she didn’t? She was acting childish and stupid. It was her fault. If she went to the university, she would probably be like them. 

Adeline closed her eyes for a moment. Her walk was a little clumsy because some people were like uncontrollable tidal waves which bumped into her. She floundered through the people. It caused, she wasn’t paying that much attention to what was happening in front of her. In the end, she was the one who literally bumped into someone. She was just a step away from swearing. When her eyes met the person, she was speechless. 

Darker brown hair, specific beard, the look behind the sunglasses and a grin on his face - that was a typical Stark from the television. The only thing she could do was to raise one of her eyebrows and wait for his reaction. 

“I think I should buy you a drink,” said Tony with a neutral voice and smiled at the mysterious woman with a mask on her face. 

“I think I’m not interested,” she moved with one of her shoulders without any interest and continued walking away from him. This was one of the things she wanted to do – verbally brush off Tony Stark. She was proud of herself. Even her mood was much better. 

She came to the ladies bathroom and went straight to the washbasin. She looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her hair looked the same, even the make-up was holding together, and the mask was a perfect choice. Adeline checked her mobile. There was a feedback from her father. 

WE ARE FINE. YOUR SISTER AND MOTHER ARE SAFE. TALK TO YOU SOON. 

Why didn’t he call her when it happened? They have a deal and he’s the one who’s not respecting it. She shook her head, put the mobile back into the purse and went to the toilet. 

A few minutes later, Adeline was back on the dance floor with her friends, enjoying the music and dancing. Monica already found herself a dance partner. He was much taller than her, with a tattoo of a grim reaper on his right shoulder. He wore a white singlet and black jeans. Yes, he was cute, but not Adeline’s type. Fortunately, she could dance with Jen. They had their sexy seducing moves which fitted with the music. Some people were staring at them. Two unknown women were dancing like they were lovers. But, they didn’t know it was just for fun. 

As the time went by, and the party was getting wilder, and people drunker, Adeline was sitting in her booth, enjoying a glass of martini with a man she met. They were talking together like they knew each other for a long time. He had blond hair, blue eyes, a cute smile on his face and he was pretty much talkative. Maybe this was the guy with whom she would spend the night. Well, that’s what she thought. 

In a while, she found something unattractive on him – he talked way too much about his wife. He was getting a divorce and that was the only topic he could speak about – after all the polite talk at the beginning. She laid her head on one hand and rolled her eyes. “Hey, Marc?” 

“It’s Mike,” he corrected her. 

“Yeah, whatever,” she cleared her throat. “Would you like another drink or a dance?” Adeline raised her eyebrows and waited for an answer. A drink would be better because she would be able to listen to him. A dance would be better because she would be able to escape him. 

“Can we just talk? I like our topic,” he smiled at her and softly grabbed her free hand. 

This was enough for her. “You know what, Matt?” 

“It’s Mike,” he immediately replied. 

“I don’t care,” she shook her head and pulled the hand from under his. “I’ve got to go. My girls are somewhere here and I’m not that drunk to listen to your crap story about your divorce. But hey, you are a nice guy,” she stood up from the table. “Enjoy your night,” she gave him the last wink and ran away from him. 

How could she think he was cute and interesting? Probably it was time to go home and jump into the bed. Adeline looked around. She found Jen. She was talking to some stranger. They both had drinks in hands. It was probably vodka. Then, she saw that rich egoistic savior. Tony Stark was once again up on the stage talking to the DJ and laughing. Is he still here? Their eyes met. Tony looked at her; his grin was once again on his face. He even waved her. 

Adeline brushed her hair with fingers and quickly went to her friend. She even fixed her mask. Her walking was faster. She pushed some people out of her way. “Jen!”

“Adeline!” she screamed. “There you are!” The girls finally met. “This is John – he is from New York, but was born in Montreal!” her eyes were glowing. “Isn’t it amazing?!” 

Adeline turned to the man and shook their hands. “The world is really a small place,” she said. “Honey,” she looked at Jen. “I think I’m going home. I’m tired and tonight wasn’t that amazing. We’ll meet on Monday at work, okay?” 

“No! Don’t go! It’s too early!” she mewled. “Please stay? How about a drink? Hah?” Jen started to jump around her friend like a kid. “Oh-oh!” her voice changed and her eyes were suddenly much bigger. “That’s Tony Stark! I think he’s going here! How do I look?” 

“Oh my gosh!” Adeline growled. “You know what? I’m going to take us some drinks. Vodka, anybody?” She looked at the man named Josh who nodded in agreement. The luck was at her side – she could escape the billionaire, and not talk to him. Once again, she was floundering through the crowd, just to get to the bar. 

One more time she looked around when she heard a massive explosion. The whole place trembled and the people started to scream. What was it? Some of them even fell down on the floor. The brunette immediately looked around herself. There was a panic, a hole in one of the walls – pieces of stones swamped some people. It was a disaster. 

“Jen?! Monica!” Adeline started to scream. She had to find them before it was too late. Crowds of people were trying to get out from the club. Some of them even pushed the others on the floor, no matter if they would hurt them or not. One guy tried to do that to Adeline, but she stopped him. She twisted his arm and slapped him on the face. “Watch where you’re going!” she frowned at him. 

There was no time for a fight. She needed to help her friends in need. Unfortunately, she couldn’t find them. “Jen! Monica!” she screamed as much as she could. There was no answer in this chaos. It was a moment, a second - another explosion was heard. This time, this one was very close. In a blink, Adeline raised her arms in front of herself, and suddenly a purple glare came out of her hands. It spread around her just to protect her. It was her shield – the only form of a unique protection. It stopped the pressure wave, and it kept her safe from the heavy rocks and fire. Her eyes were widened, she couldn’t even breathe. Adeline knew about this ability, but she couldn’t control it much. She didn’t have the necessary training. 

Some people saw her. They could see the beautiful purple veil around this mystique woman. She even protected other people, not just herself. Adeline took a deep breath. The mysterious shield vanished. When she looked around, people wanted to ask her questions. The only thing what she could do was to run away. This time, the luck was on her side – she had a mask on her face. 

Hundreds of people were standing outside the destroyed club. They could hear a noise, a beat, and even shots up in the sky. When Adeline looked up, she saw a flying suit up there that was fighting with someone. 

“He’s here,” she whispered. The fire has come to L.A. Her heart almost stopped. 

“Step aside, madam!” a fireman came to her and grabbed her hand. He needed to take her to a safety place where was a lot of people. 

“Adeline! Adeline!” a shout came behind her back. When the brunette turned around, she saw one of her friends, Jen. She immediately spread her arms and hugged her. “Are you alright?!” 

“Yes, I am!” she nodded. “Where is Monica? Is she okay? Are you hurt?”

“I’ fine,” Jen smiled a little. “But Monica has something with her arm and she has this wound on her head,” she was shaking. “I hope she’ll be okay. She has to be okay! They wouldn’t let me go with her to the hospital.” 

“Shhh, she will be fine,” Adeline hugged her like she used to hug her sister just to calm her down. “Go to the hospital and stay with her, okay? I’ll go to work tomorrow instead of you. Go and get some rest. Call me in the morning, okay? Do we have a deal?” she looked at her frightened face and gave her this small supportive smile. “Jen?” 

“Okay, I will. Thank you, Adeline. I’ll call you.” They finally stepped back from one another and Jen slowly went away. Adeline was the sweet one and she would help to everyone if she had the opportunity. Everybody knew they can count on her.


	2. Chapter two - Waitress

Chapter two - Waitress

-Is it really okay with you substituting me at work? - Jen asked. It was a few hours later after the attack. Every kind of news on the TV was talking about it. The people were going crazy. Some of the information was wrong; some of them didn’t make sense. Adeline was looking at the TV, and reading the headlines while she was on the phone with her friend. –I can come if you want.- 

“No, Jen, it’s fine. Stay with Monica and try to talk to her about that night, or something. I’m going to work,” said the brunette, and sat on her bed. She crossed her legs, stopped and squint her eyes. She was tired because she hasn’t been sleeping well. All she could think about was that moment, when the shield, fired from her hands. A lot of people saw her, but she had a mask on. Would they recognize her even without it? “Listen, I’ve got to go. I need to get ready. Say hi to Monica. And don’t worry, I am fine with going to work,” she laughed a little. With that, the line went end. 

Adeline took a deep breath, held it for a moment and then slowly released. She did it three times until she felt relaxed and not frustrated. It was a new day to go to the work and serve drinks to some old drunk people while their wives, children or life partners were sitting at home waiting for them. She worked in a normal bar, not in some tavern, so it wasn’t that horrible. There were times where she had to act and kick someone out from the bar. The man’s behavior was unacceptable. He even tried to hit on her, but that didn’t pay off. 

The only thing she could do now was to put on some clothes, get her stuff and leave home. She put on skinny black jeans, a black silk shirt and wedge boots which were dark-blue. She brushed her hair into a high ponytail. The last thing, which made this outfit look more normal, was a huge necklace with fake blue diamonds. They always had to dress nicely for the work. No matter if it was a man or a woman. The only dress code was – don’t wear anything slutty or dirty. 

-I would like to inform all of you that I stopped this villain who attacked my favorite club in L.A- It was Stark who was on the TV. They were interviewing him after everything ended. He looked so proud and confident. Adeline focused on the interview. – There is no need to panic. The police already have this man. You can all sleep in rest.- 

The brunette with the ponytail started to laugh. “Oh my…” she said and gulped. “You are so pathetic. You think that will stop him?” she was talking to herself. “You don’t know him, Stark. You have any idea how strong he is,” she sighed. The only thing she could do was to turn off the TV and leave to work. 

Just when she locked the door, her phone started to play some random tunes. When she looked at the display, she smiled a little. “Hi, dad,” that was the first thing she said after she accepted the call. “I’m glad you are calling. Are you alright? What about mom and Natalie?” While calling, she locked the door.

-I would like to ask you the same, Adeline, - said a deep voice of a man from the other side. – I saw what happened in L.A. Were you there?- 

When it came to his fatherly senses, most of the time he knew if something happened to her, or if she was in danger, or harmed. “Yes, I was there, but don’t worry, I’m fine. Nothing happened to me. Dad, I know you told me not to use my powers, but I…”

She couldn’t even finish her sentence. He interrupted her. -We talked about this, Adeline. You can’t let that happen! You are putting yourself in danger. No one can know about you and your abilities! Especially not, when he’s in L.A! He’ll be looking for you if he found out! He was even looking for us, but we were hidden in another town.- 

“Okay, you know what? I just wanted to know, if you are alright and you are. I have to go to work now.” She was already mad at him because she couldn’t even explain to him why she had to use the shield. “I’m not going to discuss what I can or can’t do. It is my life, dad. This is the reason why I moved to L.A. – not to be controlled by you, and you know it very well,” she growled. “Just say hello to mother and Natalie,” and she ended the call. The only thing she just wanted to do was to throw the mobile against the wall. The relationship with her father was complicated. 

Her life changed when she was a baby. She didn’t know how it all started. All she remembered was the amount of activities she had. It was her father who forced Adeline to do martial arts and other types of fighting sports. She had to take classes of karate, box and judo. As compensation, she could visit a dance class once a week. It was only because she needed to learn different soft moves, balance, or sexy moves of a woman. Her mother thought it was all her idea and never said anything about it. When Adeline was fifteen, she had her first shooting class. At this time, she was already mentally strong, well trained and wanted to do it. She wasn’t forced into this one. She was becoming the best teenage warrior in local sports clubs. She could be successful, famous with a life she always dreamed of. However, at the age of eighteen, when her father didn’t let her go to a university, she refused to listen to him and slowly stopped with everything. Their relationship got worse and by the time she was twenty-one, she left her town and moved to San Jose just to be alone, without a father and his sermons. 

Unfortunately, she missed the daily routines and started to do some sports such as boxing and she even tried Kickbox. In San Jose, she worked at a restaurant as a waitress. The work was well paid, however, with three roommates, her life wasn’t a success. It wasn’t a success at all. She was always jealous of her younger sister. She could do whatever she wanted to. 

A half an hour later, the brunette finally arrived to work. She had a big smile on her face, and from the front door, she was pointing at her male colleague – Dan. “Hey, what are you doing here?” he asked with a surprising tone. “I thought Jen was supposed to be here today.”

“Oh, don’t tell me you are upset about it,” she gave him a puppy eyes. “Besides,” Adeline looked around, saw one big decorated table near the windows. “What is going on today?” she asked. “Are we having a special night like last month? The senior club is visiting again?” She was making fun of it. She went to the rear just to get ready for work. Adeline put on a black apron, put a pencil and a notepad into a pocket and fixed her ponytail. 

“We are having a small party here, Adeline!” Dan screamed at her, so she could hear him. 

When she got back to him, she helped him with glasses and plates, so they would be prepared for the guests. “So, no senior club? What a shame,” she sadly sighed. “Give me more information, please.”

Dan fixed his blond hair with fingers and leaned against the bar counter. “I don’t know much. Some guy named James Rhodes booked this place for him and his friends or politicians? I have no idea. Tonight, we are here only for them,” he moved his shoulders. 

“The military guy?” she raised her eyebrows. “I saw him on TV a few days ago. I wonder why are they having it here? Why not a much fancier place? We don’t have golden glasses and expensive champagne.”

“Now, now, dear,” he rubbed her shoulder. “You are mean. In fact, why isn’t Jen coming today?” 

“I know she would be a better company, but,” she stopped talking when she saw his face. He didn’t like these types of words. “Yesterday, we were in a club which was attacked by some maniac,” she explained. “Monica is in the hospital and I told Jen to stay with her. That’s why I’m here,” she winked at him with one eye. 

“Is it serious?!”

“I think she won’t be able to talk to you after the accident,” she made fun of him and started to laugh. “She’s fine,” Adeline waved with her right hand. Dan softly punched her right in the belly and shook his head.” 

“Just go to work.”

*** 

It was almost eight in the evening and the first guest was already there – two politicians and someone from the US army. They all were wearing their typical formal suits, just to remind to everyone, they are very important for this country, and should be respected - that’s what Adeline thought. She was preparing their ordered drinks – expensive whiskey and the best wine they had in the bar. The men were able to pay for the best what they had there. She put the glasses on the tray, wiped her hands on the apron, and finally took away the order. Dan, on the other hand, was cleaning the rear hall, and he worked in the back of the bar, in the warehouse, lifting heavy things, and preparing everything for the next day. 

“Here you are, gentlemen,” said Adeline with a smile on her face and put the tray on their table. “The best whiskey and champagne just for you,” she put everything in its place and took the tray. “Enjoy your drinks and if anything, you can politely order more,” and then she winked with one eye to the military man. His skin was like a dark chocolate; he had a royal blue suit on and was smiling at the brunette. She was a bit cheeky, but she was flirting with him just to get a higher tip. 

She went back to the bar and cleaned the dishes while she still had some time. With one ear, she was listening to the quiet music from the wall speakers, and with the other one, she was listening to them. They were talking about the army and the government – a topic which wasn’t her favorite. 

“I’m telling you, those guys are not on our side. They will do everything just to take it from us,” said the one in a royal blue military formal suit. It was Lieutenant James Rhodes. He was the guy from the TV. “We have to do something with this.” 

“Don’t you worry, Lieutenant Rhodes. We have some contacts which can help us a lot,” said someone from their table. Adeline didn’t look at the person. They didn’t have to know she was carefully listening to them. 

“But we all know what can senator Stern do,” Rhodes sighed and looked at his watch. 

The brunette put the clean glasses up on the shelf where they belonged to. She heard the front door opened. “Sorry I’m late,” said a male voice from the right side. “I had something very important to do.” 

“You even managed to show, Stark!” said another voice from the table. What was Tony Stark doing in this part of the city, in this bar, where she was working? Adeline slowly turned around just to look at him. The man was shaking hands with the others, smiling, and he even had his sunglasses on – typical. 

“I just told you, I had a very important thing to do. I had a lovely lady at my place,” he explained with a wide smile on his face. “What are we drinking?” This was it. This was the moment when she’ll have to serve him. 

“Excuse me, miss,” Rhodes called her with a pleasant voice. 

Adeline once again fixed her ponytail, grabbed the tray and went to the table. “Yes?” she smiled at him, trying to avoid Stark’s face. “How can I help you?” 

“Two whiskeys, please,” Rhodes smiled back and handed her an empty glass of his. 

She was on her way back to the bar when a voice from behind started to talk to her. “Lady,” said Stark. Adeline stopped and slowly turned to him. Her eyebrows were up, and she wasn’t smiling anymore. “You can have one glass – it’s on me,” he winked at her. 

“I think I’m not interested,” she smirked at him and went to the bar, just to give them their order. She shouldn’t use that sentence. Being back at the bar, her eyes lifted up and met his. Tony came to the counter and put his arms on it. “How can I help you?” she asked neutrally. 

His eyes were scanning her face. “You are the one who rejected me, yesterday, and avoided me the whole night,” he said with a laugh. “Did I hurt you or anything?” he was curious. 

She rolled her eyes. “No,” she said stiffly. “I’m not a huge fan of yours, Mr. Stark,” she tried to reply politely. While they were talking, she poured whiskey into two glasses and put them on the tray.

“And why is that – waitress?” Tony raised his eyebrows. He hoped she’ll give him at least her name. 

“What? Are you waiting for my name?” she crossed her arms on chest. 

“Um, you know, I can figure out your name very easily. You see, I am a genius, and I have created a very intelligent system, and it can find me whatever I want.” Tony said it to her with conceited voice. 

She frowned at him. “Um, and what is this magical system of yours? Tell me, because it sounds really interesting,” she wrinkled her nose. She felt that something changed in her, but she couldn’t tell what it was. “It’s all about numbers, am I right? Numbers and codes.” 

“Well, it’s much more than that. It’s,” he wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence. Adeline was on her way to the table with the order. That woman was a surprise for him – confident, not afraid of him and tough. He liked that. Tony watched her while she was giving the glasses to Rhodes, his best friend, and communicating with them. She smiled, was nice to them, and even joked about some topic they were talking about. He sat on a bar chair and waited for her. 

The brunette surprisingly looked at him when she came back. “Do you need anything else, Mr. Stark?” her eyes widened, the green color of her eyes was glowing like a sun. How can a girl, with such a pretty face hate him so much? “Do you want me to continue on how does your intelligent system works? How did you create it?” she sighed. “You see, Mr. Stark, maybe not everyone is that clever as you are, but there are hidden talents in this world.” 

“Hey, Ad? Would you…” Dan came from the warehouse and surprisingly looked at her colleague and the guest, who was sitting on a bar chair. “Mr. Stark, welcome,” he smiled at him. “Is everything okay?” 

“Absolutely,” he nodded in agreement. “We are just talking.” 

“No,” she moved with her index finger disapprovingly. “I am trying to work here while Mr. Stark is talking to me and restraining me,” Adeline explained. 

“Why do you hate me so much?” 

“I don’t hate you,” she laughed. Dan just stood there while they had this discussion. “Did you deduce it from the part, where I said I’m not interested, or the part that I’m not your fan?” 

“Okay, I’ll go check our guests, and leave you two with some kind of a problem which I know nothing about.” 

“It is fine, Dan. I can do my job,” she protested. The only thing he did was to grab Adeline’s tray and left the counter. 

“Okay, back to business,” Tony started again. 

“Why are you still trying, anyway? Other men would just leave it and deal with it,” she didn’t understand him. “I don’t have to be a fan of yours, but it doesn’t mean I hate you.” She was lying. She didn’t like him, because of that night, when he acted like a hero, but didn’t help innocent people. 

“Then it would mean, you are judging a book by its cover,” he replied with a grin on his face. 

“What do you know about books?” she asked immediately and sarcastically. 

“Hey! What was that for?” Tony was shocked. Did she do everything just to argue with him? She obviously didn’t like him but was afraid to admit it. “I know what books are.”

“Oh, do you?” she provoked him. 

He shook his head incredulously. “Oh, wow. Other girls…”

“I’m not like other girls, Mr. Stark,” once again she lied. She was exactly like the other girls. No, she was exactly like Stark. She liked to flirt with men, have a one night stand and then normally live like before. No relationships, no commitment, nothing. This was a part of her he didn’t have to know about. “Okay, how about this,” she leaned her palms again the marble and looked into his sunglasses. She couldn’t see his eyes. “I don’t hate you, you don’t know me and we can end and leave this conversation, okay? I just rejected you, because I was not interested. That’s all.” 

“So, you think you know me?” Tony frowned at her a crossed his arms on chest. 

She strictly nodded. “I do. The only thing I have to do is to turn on my TV and you are there,” she threw her hands up in the air. Adeline tried to control her voice. She saw Lieutenant Rhodes looked at them with a confused face. 

“You are being rude.” 

“I am not,” she denied it. “I’m just having a small talk with my customer,” she winked at him. “I think you are being rude.” 

He was shocked. “Why are you trying to turn this on me? I don’t get it?” he laughed. “You, as a waitress, should be nice and polite to your customer while you are the exact opposite of it,” he victoriously smiled at the brunette with a high ponytail. 

Adeline finally realized what changed in her. She liked this kind of conversation. She found something good in him. He was sarcastic, willing to argue with her, and that was what she needed right now. Maybe he was a rich dick, who acted like the God, but he was just like her. The only thing she could do was to laugh out loud. “Oh, oh my… I’m sorry,” she took a deep breath. “This is what I needed.” 

“What? A verbal fight with an unusual, attractive customer?” he was confused. 

Adeline took a rag for the dishes, stepped away from the counter and with a wide smile on her face; she went to the back, to do other work, which had to be done. The last thing she did was a short answer of an interjection: “Yeah.” 

While she was in the back, Tony went to his friends and sat down on a regular comfortable chair. Dan was back at the counter, preparing other drinks, and Tony could start a debate about their important things. However, his best friend James had something different on his mind. “Hey, what was that all about?” 

“Me and the cute bitch waitress?” he smiled, finally putting down his sunglasses and drank his first glass of whiskey. “We were just talking, and yesterday, we met in the club where was that damn attack,” he rolled his eyes. “If that wouldn’t happen, I bet I would end with this one.” 

“Ah, well, I doubt that, Tony. I think we have this special connection. Maybe this time, you are not the one who’ll get the girl,” he patted him friendly on the shoulder and gave him a big smile. “Sometimes, you don’t have to be the Iron Man to get the girls.” 

“Yeah, you just have to be the War Machine,” he grinned at his friend. “But believe me, my friend, she’s mine, even though we had this weird conversation, which I appreciated and enjoyed, she will go home with me, tonight.” 

Dan was looking at them while wiping the wet marble. He had no idea what they were talking about, but their faces and looking the way she disappeared, he knew they were talking about Adeline. He rolled his eyes, left the rag and went to the warehouse for a moment. Adeline was cleaning some iron shelves and sorted bad products from there. “Can you tell me what was it about?” 

“Oh, relax,” she rolled her eyes and put another sack of potato chips into the bin. 

“Relax? If your boss was working tonight, you would get fired for that behavior and you know that ” he tried not to yell at her. 

“Dan…”

“No, don’t Dan me! Listen, Adeline,” he crouched next to her. “I don’t care if you hate Stark, or if you two have something together, and this is the way how you two communicate now, but you can’t do it here. I’m telling you this as a friend,” he put a hand on her shoulder. 

“First thing, get that hand down off me,” she frowned at him. “Secondly,” she took a deep breath. Adeline couldn’t be arrogant to him, but Dan was that kind of a guy who would act like a baby and get offended very easily. “I think you are right,” she nodded. It was fake like Pamela Anderson’s boobs. “You know what? Go home, get some rest, I’ll close it here and take care of everything.” 

“Adeline, I can’t leave you alone,” he sighed and stood up. He wasn’t happy with this idea, although he wanted to go home and get some rest. 

The girl rolled her green eyes. “I’m trying to get rid of you, Dan. So, accept this offer and go home, or I’ll be the one who’ll leave you with them. The choice is up to you. You don’t have much time.” 

This was it. He accepted her offer. “Adeline, sometimes you act like a bitch, but we love you for what you do for us,” he winked at her with one blue eye. “I’ll be on the phone, if something,” he ran to the rear where he grabbed his stuff. When he came back, Dan gave her colleague a kiss on her cheek. “One thing, Adeline – please don’t do anything stupid, like going home with Stark or any of these guys.” 

“Don’t you worry, princess. I can take care of myself. Now go,” she gave him a brofist. 

The brunette wanted to be there alone after everyone will leave. She loved to clean the place all by herself, not being interrupted by her colleagues or anyone. The feeling of being alone in a quiet bar while cleaning was what her heart loved the most. No thoughts, no fights – this was the moment when everybody stopped existing and it was just her and her own little world of silence.


	3. Chapter three – It is just one night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Smut

**Chapter three – It is just one night**

               

                “Why did you decide to stay here with me? I don’t need your company. I’m fine.”

                 Adeline was sitting on a table with a glass of whiskey in her right hand, and looking directly at Tony Stark, who was sitting opposite her, on a typical leather chair. He insisted on staying with her for one drink, and then like he promised, he would leave her alone. His friends, including Rhodes, left a half an hour ago, at half past one. The streets were very dark at this hour, only a few street lamps were lit. L.A. was dangerous during nights, and Adeline knew about it. Which was worse: walking home alone at night or a drink with famous, rich dick Tony Stark? The second option was correct.

     “Don’t try to say that you are not enjoying my company,” he laughed. “Besides, I wouldn’t leave a pretty lady all alone here. We’ll do it just like I said – one drink together, and then I’ll go.”

                The brunette smiled a little, crossed her legs and looked at the brownish fluid. “You know, I can drink it on one shot, which will mean, you have to go.”

                “And I know you wouldn’t do it. You see, deep inside, deep – deep inside, I already broke you, and now you like my company, and,” he looked into her green eyes, “you want to know me better. Oh wow, I think I would be a great mind reader!” he put an index finger on his forehead, and closed his eyes, pretending he was concentrating.

                 “With that job, you would die young,” she snapped and took a sip. “Well, Mr. Stark…”

                 “No, no,” he interrupted her. “It’s Tony.”

                  Her eyes widened. “Wow, this is a big step for me. How amazing,” she couldn’t believe her ears. “No formalities - which I wasn’t expecting at all.” When she saw the look on his face, she knew what he wanted from her – a name. “You still don’t know my name? Oh please, you must have heard it tonight from someone.”

                 “There was this moment, when that guy, your co-worker, said something like Ad? There are many possibilities, for example, Adele, Addison…”

                  “It’s Adeline,” she finally introduced herself to him and gave him this devilish smirk.

                “That was my third guess,” he added immediately and smiled. “So, Adeline, tell me something about you. You know, if we ever have another fight, then I could say that I know you and can judge you.”

                  “That is very risky,” she giggled. “What do you want to know about me? What is my favorite color? What are my favorite flowers, or chocolate?” she raised her eyebrows and took another sip. She wasn’t a fan of whiskey either. “Oh please, Tony. You wouldn’t remember it the next day.”

                  “Okay then,” he put the glass on the table and stretched his arms. “Where were you born? But first, let me guess – you were born here in L.A. because it’s not possible, you are from another town,” he smiled.

                   “Oh-oh, wrong guess,” she made a sound from a TV show, which signalized a failure. “You would be a terrible mind reader,” she concluded.  “I was born in San Francisco,” she slowly started to nod her head. “But I decided to move here, and live the life I always wanted.”

                  “So, working at a bar, flirting with a very attractive billionaire – yes, I would love that kind of a life too,” he teased her. “And you know what?” Tony leaned towards her, softly put his palm on her thigh, and looked straight into her eyes, “maybe this guy would do anything just to satisfy you – in every way you like.”

                    She was directly looking at his hand. Why on earth did she allow it? This should’ve never happened. A few hours ago, she didn’t like this man – she hated him because she had reasons. And now, she is sitting with him at her work, flirting, and he’s offering her a one night stand. The truth was, it was over a week when she had sex, and she was pretty much turned on – by him. However, she didn’t want to let that happen, and she showed him the fake Adeline. “I told you I am not that kind of a girl.”

     Tony stood up, ran with fingers through his stylish short dark hair, and stepped closer to the woman. His eyes scanned her face, long hair in a ponytail, and even body. Even though she wore black, she looked amazing – that gorgeous figure with wider hips, and breasts which could perfectly fit into his hands. This was a woman of his fantasies. “I don’t believe you,” he whispered, softly, and seductively.

     Adeline smirked. There was something left in her glass which she immediately drank, and waved with the glass. “All done Mr. Stark. One drink – now it’s time for you to go,” her eyes rapidly blinked. She refused him, despite the fact she was horny, and she saw that spark in his eyes. They had a sexual connection. She could feel it.

     The man’s face remained the same, but he felt disappointed. A sexy brunette refused him. That almost never happened to him. Probably she wasn’t that kind of a girl, he thought. The only thing he could do was to step aside and grab his fancy blazer. He pulled out a wallet, and threw the money on the table, right next to Adeline. He didn’t even look how much it was. He didn’t care. “Well, Adeline, it was nice meeting you,” he winked at her with one eye.

     “Oh, don’t be so sad about it,” she said with a funny voice. “You’ll find another, party boy.”

    Tony gave her a puppy eyes. “I could take care of you in the morning,” he tried it one more time.

    “Thank you for coming, Mr. Stark. We hope you will come back to our bar very soon,” she said monotonously, trying not to say it with a flirty voice.

     In a minute, she was there all alone. No people, no colleagues, just her and the mess. Stark left her job with a smirk on his face. The brunette sighed, looked at the empty glasses, which were right next to her. It was time to clean up the place and go home, get some rest. She jumped off the table, put the glasses on an empty tray, and took them behind the bar. This was an activity which took for about five minutes. While the glasses were standing next to the sink, slowly getting dry, she took a broom and started sweeping the floor. Her thoughts were immediately at Tony. Adeline was thinking about him, and the sex offer. She couldn’t believe herself. She hated him; he was that kind of a person she wouldn’t have anything with. Unfortunately, thanks to knowing him better, she discovered that he wasn’t that bad at all. Probably it was just because she, well, both of them, wanted to have sex, which was the reason of the special bonding they had that night.

     Adeline did everything she had to. After the swept floor, and washed dishes, she counted the money, wrote everything into a computer and put the money into the safe which was situated in the boss’s office. When everything was done, she could finally go home and get some rest.

     In their small changing room, she took off her apron, grabbed her purse and didn’t forget the keys from this whole place. She locked the changing room, the boss’s office, the warehouse, and in the end the front door of the bar. When everything was how it supposed to be, she hid the keys into her purse, and slowly went home.

     Walking down the street, enjoying the night view of L.A., and not thinking about what happened half an hour ago, she heard a sound of a car slowly parking and stopping next to her - it caught her attention. She looked to the left side and saw the new Audi model of silver color. Adeline raised her eyebrows; her face was neutral and checked the car – just in case. When the window went down, she saw the one and only person, who probably enjoyed her company. All of a sudden, there was a smirk on her face.

    “What a surprise,” said Tony from the car. “Or should I say: what a coincidence!”

     Adeline crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her head. “What are you doing?” she asked with a little laugh.

     “Nothing!” he said innocently. “I was just randomly passing by, and I saw a pretty young woman going home from her job,” he explained. “So I said to myself, I should be a gentleman and help her,” he smiled.

     “And do you think she will accept your help?” Adeline had to stoop a little, just to see his face. “What makes you so sure she needs your help, huh?”

    Tony did only one thing – he tilted to the passenger’s door and opened it for her. “Hop on,” he smiled.

    She did as he told her, and didn’t even hesitate. She sat next to him, closed the door and buckled up. Tony wanted to say something to her, but she was quicker. “Oh, just shut up and drive,” she rolled her eyes with a smile on a face. “If someone saw us, they must have thought that I’m a hooker, whom Tony Stark just picked up,” she had to laugh. The vision was hilarious to her.

    “And aren’t you my hooker?” he checked her face for a moment, and then focused on the road.

     “That was offensive,” she growled.

     “Would I make it up to you by adding: a sexy hooker?” he smirked.

    “Is this your way of flirting or something? Because you suck at it,” she sighed, and also focused on the road, scanning the familiar streets. “Now turn right.”

     “Oh, don’t be mad, Adele…”

     “It’s Adeline – wow, you even suck at names!”

     “I know your name. I was just teasing you because you look cute when you are mad,” he laughed at her.

     “You’re a dick,” she punched him in the right shoulder and frowned. “Okay, now turn left, on the next crossing turn right and you can park right in front of the dry cleaners,” she navigated him to the place where she lived. Maybe Tony was mocking her, which was a little annoying, but she was glad for the lift home. She found her keys in the purse and left them in the right hand.

    A few minutes later, Tony stopped the car on the side of the road as he was told to. “Here you are, Adeline,” he looked at her. “This was fun,” he winked at her. “We had a pleasant conversation. I learned, you are a great object of teasing, and that I’m a dick,” he laughed.

     “Thank you for the ride, Mr. Stark,” she gave him puppy eyes. “It was nice meeting you again.” While talking, she unbuckled herself and opened the door on her side. “Have a nice evening.”

    “Hey!” he stopped her for a moment. “That’s it?”

     Adeline stepped out, closed the door and once again leaned forward to the window. “And what would your heart want? I think it has everything, no? And, speaking about it, you can have anything that you point at.” While she was speaking to him, she destroyed the ponytail and brushed her hair with fingers.

     “So if I point at you, can I have you?” Tony’s face changed. He wasn’t mocking her. He was serious. There was a spark in his eyes, which Adeline has already seen back at the bar, when they were alone, drinking whiskey. “I have to say it – you are hot,” he sighed and looked at her long brown straight hair which was falling under her breasts.

     “I know,” she laughed. Adeline already made her decision, which she’ll regret sooner or later. The impulse between them was strong. Both of them could feel it. They were attracted to one another. She stepped aside, slightly moved her shoulders, and slowly walked to the main door. She had this devilish smirk on her face. “And maybe, I don’t know…”

     Tony was looking at her the whole time. He saw the signals, he knew she was his. The woman opened the door, walked in and with a move of a head she invited him in. Tony knew what he should do. He came out from the car, locked it with a remote, and as a winner, he went to the door, when the cute waitress was waiting for him.

     The front door closed behind him. The brunette was already standing next to an elevator, waiting for both it and Tony. Her face was without any emotions. She didn’t want to show him how turned on she was. They waited there silently, trying not to look at each other. But that changed when they boarded on the elevator. It was a second; Tony grabbed Adeline by her hips, pressed her against the elevator wall, and gave her a very deep passionate kiss on her lips. She wrapped her hands around his neck. Her fingers ran through his dark hair. She could feel his beard on her skin. It didn’t bother her at all. Maybe it was tickling her a little, but she didn’t focus on it. The only thing that mattered was the sweetest, but predatory kisses.

     They fell apart when the elevator stopped on the floor where the woman lived. Both of them were breathing heavily. They stepped out of the elevator, still having an eye contact while their hands tried to unzip everything they could. Before she could open the door, Tony pressed her against it, not letting her open them, and gave her the kisses she craved for.

     “Oh my gosh, you are so good,” she murmured between all the kissing. “Let me open that damn door,” she sighed, pulled away from him, and tried to get into her apartment. She could feel Tony’s hands on her hips, slowly moving down to her ass, squeezing it. Another groan escaped her lips when she finally opened the door, and they both entered.

     Adeline had to act too. While she gave him another sweet kiss, her hand was under his underwear, slowly stroking his tool, making him moan the way he made her. She had to admit, his size was the one she liked – not small and not gigantic. She even looked at it when she pulled it out from under the cloth. The brunette licked her lips and smiled.

     “It’s time to remove all the clothes,” he suggested, removing his hand out of her panties.

     “Now that’s an idea I like,” she laughed a little. They both started to undress one another, and in a minute later, they were standing in front of each other naked. Tony immediately played with her nipples, sucking them, tugging them. He loved the size of her breasts.

    Adeline jumped on him, wrapped her soft legs around his waist, and gave him another long kiss. Her hands were stroking his back. She felt on her chest the arc reactor. Tony squeezed her ass and slowly moved forward with her, trying to find the bed in the dark. Luckily, her apartment was very small – a studio. He threw her on the big bed, and even in the dark, he scanned the lines of her delicious body.

     The brunette wasn’t shy at all. She spread her legs for him. “Come on, Tony. I want you inside of me,” she said softly, excitedly. Adeline didn’t have to wait too long for him. The man already had a hungry smile on his face, he began approaching her, and with his hands, he touched her skin. He stroked her belly, hips, moving to her thighs, getting himself ready for her. Adeline could see his hard cock slowly entering her. She could feel every inch of him until he was totally inside. Then it all began. The pace was slow at the beginning, but it started increasing. 

     They both were very experienced from all those one-night stands they had in their lives. Tony had some moves which Adeline liked and vice versa. “Oh yes, Adeline,” he moaned. His thumb was on her clit, gently stroking it, giving her the pleasure she wanted. “Be a good girl and moan for me.” He could see she was enjoying it in every way, biting her lower lip and smiling. “Come on, do it for me,” he whispered.

     The heat between them was indescribable. There were these explosions, which were new for both of them. Their bodies were like one. They never experienced this kind of connection – like they finally found the perfect sex partner. However, there were no feelings between them. It was a one night stand - a stranger helping another stranger.

     Their night wasn’t over at all. Tony did everything that he could just to break her, take her energy, and leave memories of this night. He was the one who was dominant, and he didn’t let her change it.

     He left at five in the morning, quietly, without any note or evidence that he was really there. There was only a weak, sleeping woman lying on the bed, covered with a duvet. Tony put on his clothes what he found on the floor and silently left the woman’s apartment…

     When Adeline woke up, the sun was shining high up in the sky. She slowly opened her eyes and rubbed her face with a palm. For a second she was confused. She was exhausted, not even able to roll on her back, or live. She stretched her arm on the spot right next to her, but there was no one there. That made her wake up, and she looked around. She was there all alone. Tony must have left after she passed out.

     The night she spent with him was good – even more than that. One of the best sexes, she ever had. With her fingers, she brushed her messy hair and yawned. There was no way she could go to the work. She was tired – not just from this night, but also from the attack two days ago. The only thing what she did that day was a message to Jen about not going to work, and she needed her to substitute no matter what. After it, she once again closed her eyes, and went back to sleep, thinking about the wonderful night she spent with Tony Stark. 


	4. Chapter four – The guardian

**Chapter four – The guardian**

                It was eight days after the one night stand with Tony Stark – after that night they never met, he didn’t even visit the bar – typical. And also, it was nine days after the massive explosion at the club where the huge party was. During these days, the news was all about the attack – there were discussions about it, how many people were injured, how many of them died, what was the motive of the man who caused it. They never showed his face, never said his real name. He had a nickname - it was Goth.

     Adeline was sitting behind her desk at home, with one ear listening to the news, and working on a special piece of clothing made just for her. It cost quite a lot of money - the special equipment and the materials weren’t easy to buy. A huge magnifier stood up on the table. She was looking through it on the clothing and welded small particles together with a miniature welding machine – specially made for this type of work. She had another secret – besides that she could create a purplish shield around her, Adeline was very intelligent. She understood technology, math, and science. She was able to create prototypes of machines, even create or hack a system on the Internet. It was another gift she had.

     She was working on this project for several long months. It wouldn’t take that much time if she had enough money for it, and spare time. Ever since she moved to L.A., she wanted to help people, keep them safe. Her father never allowed her to do that back in San Francisco. But since she moved to L.A., she was free, making her own decisions.

     Some of her nights weren’t just about parties or work. She loved night walking, enjoying the view of this big town while keeping an eye on weak girls and women, who were going back home from work, or parties. It was her mission, her duty. She had the opportunity to learn how to fight, be strong, and protect herself. The others didn’t have the chance. Why shouldn’t she protect them? Why shouldn’t she fight against the crime which wasn’t punished? There were many nights where she kicked some asses and made the men cry. Some of them were strong – they tried to attack her with knives or even guns, but she was stronger, faster, and fearless.

     A white shining spark flew on the material. It happened sometimes – it was a sign, everything was working just fine. This was the day when she could finally finish it and try it on. She made herself a suit – tight black catsuit with a purple stripe on every side of arm and leg, which represented the colour of the shield. There were small, almost invincible leads which created a network filled with special energy.  The fabric might be thin, but with the technology inside, she had created fireproof clothing. And not just that – it could control her warmth, so she wouldn’t freeze during winter.

     “Happy Birthday to me,” she smiled like a devil, put the small welding machine next to her, and touched the suit. Adeline was proud of herself. After all those months, it was finished – almost. The only thing, which was missing, and wasn’t finished, was the mask. She needed to protect her identity. The idea was to create something where she could use black and purple colours.

_~ We interrupt this program for a very serious message. The man with fire, Goth, who destroyed one of the most famous clubs in L.A., has escaped from prison. ~_

     Adeline slowly turned her head to the news, and her eyes widened. She knew this would happen. It was just a matter of time. Her father told her everything about him – who he was, why he was doing this. She knew his future, relationships, and the fact he used to be her dad’s best friend. The Goth was looking for some special cure, created by her father, doctor Martin Montana, which could change people’s DNA, and gain special abilities – something like she had. The difference was, she was special ever since she was born – no cures, no changed DNA.

  _~ There is no need to panic. The police are looking for this man, and they are working with the Iron Man. ~_

     The brunette rolled her eyes and turned back to the finished catsuit. She started to work on the mask – it was easy, nothing difficult. She already bought the background for it, now she needed to add some fabric, and colours. It was just to be undercover. No one can know her identity – especially not when Goth is in town, and she slept with the Iron Man. She was the Guardian – a nickname some women gave her, for keeping an eye on them.

_~ We don’t know what to expect from this man, what was his motive for his actions. However, we will do everything that we can, and we’ll put him back where he belongs – in prison. ~ This time, it was a male’s voice. Adeline turned her head to the TV and saw there the man, who was also in the bar that night – Lieutenant James Rhodes. ~ This man is dangerous, we can’t deny it. But there is no need to panic. The air force will help the police with searching. ~_

     “You need more than that,” said Adeline quietly. She put the mask on her knees and continued with her work. Finally, a day off was what she needed, and this was how she spent the day.

     A jingling sound came from her bed – it was coming from a laptop. It was doing an operation while she was finishing the suit. Adeline created a small device which could change her voice. Now, it was finally done. She let the mask be and went to the device. It consisted of two parts – a small particle, which needed to be placed over her ear, and a small controller, which fit into a small pocket of the suit. With only a click, she could launch it.

_~ Yes, we tried our best. We even had help from Iron Man, but we have no idea how we escaped. The truth is we don’t know his identity. We did our best to find it out, but we failed. ~_

     “We even had help from Iron Man,” said Adeline sarcastically, but her voice was different. It sounded like a metal plate, her voice was higher, and there was an echo. It worked perfectly. No one would ever know it was her.    

     Adeline realised, Rhodes was still on the television, and talking. It was live, somewhere in L.A. It was a press conference. She sighed, rolled her eyes, and went to turn it off, when a massive explosion was heard from the TV, and even from the outside. The people in the television were panicking. When she looked outside of her balcony windows, she saw a huge fire, several blocks away. “Oh no,” she sighed, her eyes were full of fear and panic. “Jen!”

     …

    Do not cross the line – that was written on a police tape, which was wrapped around street lamps. People were looking at a burning building. A lot of families were evacuated from it; some of the people were still there. The police, firemen, everybody did their best just to evacuate them. However, the strong, uncompromising fire was their enemy. “We need more men!” somebody shouted.

     “Has anybody seen my husband?!” a lady screamed.

    “Where is my mother?!” a child cried out loud.

     The situation wasn’t under control. Even the police were panicking. They tried their best just to catch the culprit. It was hard for them – and even harder when the man, Goth, was able to do anything, just to hurt them.

     “Miss? Miss! Miss, you can’t go there!” a fireman shouted at an unknown human being in a weird black costume, with a mask on the face. “It is dangerous!”

     She didn’t listen to him. The woman ran into the burning building, ignoring everyone around her. She needed to save her friend. She lived in this building. Where else she could be, when she wasn’t at work? Adeline called her before she left her home. The brunette, with a mask on her face, was running up the stairs, watching all the terrified, confused people on her way. When she saw two small kids, coughing, not being able to breathe, she had to intervene. Children first – it was always like this. Adeline turned to them, spread her arms, and took them with her. “It is going to be okay,” she said with a different voice. “Just come with me.”

     When they finally met the first fireman, she gave him the weak children. “Take them away,” she coughed. The smoke was horrible. Her throat scratched, the eyes were watering. “Go!” she ordered him. There was no time for hesitation. She had to move. Time and oxygen were precious to her, but Jen was much more than that – she was her friend.

     Two more floors, too many people who needed her help. They reached for her, begged for any help she could give them. The people were weak, almost without any oxygen. The smoke was worse than the fire. Adeline didn’t know what to do first. She wanted to help so badly, she was _the guardian_ ; however, her friend was in danger. Her decisions were hasty and probably bad. She grabbed an older woman by her forearm and helped her on the way down until they met another fireman. The brunette with a mask on her face gave the elderly woman to the man and immediately run upstairs again. If anyone else needed help and was in a good condition, she directed them to the lower floors, where firemen were.

     After a while, she finally got to the apartment where her friend lived. The door was closed, the smoke was even worse, and the fire was getting there slowly. There was no time. She got into the apartment, looked over the place, trying to find her friend. There was no sign of her. “Jen!” she screamed and started to cough. Adeline ran into the bedroom. It was also empty, full of smoke, and with destroyed ceiling. The last option was the bathroom. She was running out of oxygen very quickly. There was no time for more mistakes. If she won’t find her, she will have to leave. Fortunately, she did find her. Jen was on the floor in the bathroom, unconscious. “Shit! Jen?!” she screamed with a different voice. Adeline had been already on her knees, trying to wake her friend. Nothing happened.

     Suddenly, another huge explosion shattered a part of this building. The whole place was shaking. The brunette with a mask on her face took the young woman in her underwear and slung her over a shoulder. “I’ll get you out of here, I swear,” said Adeline especially to herself, because Jen couldn’t hear her.

    The fire was already in the hallway. Adeline did her best just to avoid the fire. She wouldn’t burn herself, but her friend wasn’t wearing any special suit. She ran down the stairs, quickly checking if the firemen didn’t forget anyone. The apartments seemed to be clear. While trying to escape, a new explosion was right next to her. Thanks to her reflex, she moved her hand in front of herself and put both of them under the protection of a shield. “That was a close one,” she sighed.

     After very long minutes, fighting with the smoke and fire, Adeline finally got out of the building, with a friend over her shoulder. She took a deep breath of a fresh air. Her eyes were watery, some tears escaped them. She wasn’t crying. The smoke caused it.

     “We have another wounded!” somebody shouted from the street. Some doctors, even firemen came to the mystery woman.

     “Please, help!” that was Adeline’s first words. Her voice remained the same – changed, thanks to her very own device. When two men took her friend, she gave them the important information. “Jennifer Brooks, born 1989 – she works in the Movie’s bar. Contact them for more information.” Once again, she coughed.

    “You should go with us. We need to check you,” said a doctor, who tried to take her hand.

    “No!” she protested. “I’m fine.”

    “She’s not breathing!” Adeline heard from a group of doctors, who tried to help her unconscious friend. Her heart almost stopped, when she saw what they were doing to her. Her eyes widened, her breath almost disappeared, and her heart was tearing apart. Jen was dying right in front of her eyes. The brunette with a mask wanted to scream, cry out loud, but she couldn’t. She had to remain confidential.

     Adeline took a step back, then another. She had to leave. A lot of people were looking at her, pointing with their fingers. “That is the Guardian!” Some of them said something nice. “She came to help innocent people.” But some of them weren’t that nice. “Who does she think she is?”

     It got worse. She saw a light in the sky. It was getting closer and closer. It wasn’t a bomb or a meteorite. It was the Iron Man, flying right to them. It was time to go, time to escape from him, even though she was leaving there a dying friend. Adeline felt horrible. She started to run away. The people were trying to avoid her, giving her a space to run. She heard the Iron Man behind her. He was after her, but she never looked back. When the brunette came to the crossroad, she took her chance and jumped on a truck, tightly gripped the iron handles, and let the vehicle drove her away…

    …

    It was nine in the evening. The Movie’s bar was almost empty, without any visitors. Adeline went to the bar where she worked, just to find out something about her friend. She gave them some information about her, and a contact on this place. When Adeline came in, there was only her colleague Dan, and one older guy silently drinking his beer, and reading a newspaper.

     The brunette took a deep breath, fixed her dark-blue summer dress, and combed her free straight hair. “Hey,” that was the only thing she said. Her heart was loudly beating; there was a lump in her throat. When she saw his pale face and tears in eyes, she knew something happened to Jen. “Dan? What happened?” Adeline tried to act normal, but her voice was shaking.

     “A doctor from a hospital called here,” he dryly gulped. “He said there was this attack on this residential building, and,” he started to cry.

    “Dan?”

     “Jen died today, because of the fire, and attack,” he said tearfully. “Jen is dead, Ad. That bastard killed her!” The brunette sat on a bar chair, right in front of him. Her eyes were full of tears, her heart broke, and the vision fulfilled – Jen died. She knew it from the moment when a doctor started to yell at his colleagues that she wasn’t breathing.

     “No,” that was the only thing she could say.

    “He said that there was this mysterious woman who got her out of the building,” he continued. “If she wouldn’t get her out of there, her body could burn to ashes.”

     Adeline didn’t say anything until she found a question in her head. “How did she die?”

     “She choked thanks to the smoke. Maybe if the woman gave her an artificial respiration at the beginning, she might have still lived.”

      There was a silence between them. They were quietly crying, not even looking at each other. Adeline’s head directed to the entrance door, Dan was looking at an empty glass. “We need a drink,” he said after a while and turned behind him.

     The woman was thinking about the whole afternoon. She was there when Jen died. She was the one who took her from the burning building. She was the one who ran away when Iron Man came there. Adeline started to blame herself. Closing her eyes, Adeline realised this will have an interesting sequel. No one knew she was the Guardian, the one who helped many women, the one who was there when the building was burning.

     Adeline and Dan had four glasses of whisky. They needed to flush the sorrow with an alcohol. They talked, they mentioned the funny moments with Jen, her smile, and behaviour. She was the sun in the bar. Everyone loved her, but she was Adeline’s closest friend.

     “Can you keep an eye on this place for me?” said Dan after a while. “I need to clean the warehouse. Only one hour, and finally we will be closing, and there is… no one,” he checked the bar with his eyes. The only man already left away, leaving the money on the table.

     “Yeah, sure, just go,” she nodded in agreement.

     The brunette was there all alone, only with a new full glass of whisky. She stroked her nape, squinted her eyes, and heavily exhaled. Her neck hurt from that afternoon. On her left shoulder were some bruises – when she had Jen draped over the shoulder. Her fingers gently stroked the purple-blue bruises, and she sighed. That was the last memory of her.

    The entrance door opened. Someone stepped inside, but she didn’t look at the person. It was probably another customer, a guy who came there for a beer.

     “What a lovely surprise,” said a familiar voice from behind her back. Tony Stark had a smirk on his face, and as usual, he had his stylish orange sunglasses on his nose. “Another night at the bar, working?”

     “No,” she answered with an unpleasant tone and brushed her hair with fingers. She put them on her face, just to hide her red eyes. She bent her head down.

     “Hey, what’s with the tone?” he sat next to her and looked at the glass. “Whisky? Are you celebrating something?”

     “And what brings you here, Stark?” she said grumpily. “What, you don’t have better plans to do?”

     “Believe me, this is the best plan for today,” he rolled his eyes, and without asking, he took her drink and drank it. That was the moment when she gave him a devilish look. “Oh my god, you look terrifying!”

    Adeline clenched her fist. “I am not in a mood for this shit, Stark. Make fun of someone else.”

     “Unfortunately, you are the only one available here,” he grinned at her. “Oh come on. The last time, I had fun with you. I came here to cheer myself up and you look like you would kill someone.”

    “Yeah, I would. And you are the first on my list,” she rolled her eyes.

     He started to laugh. “What is wrong with you, woman? You are mean to me; you would like to kill me. Today, a mysterious woman, who was “ _trying_ ” to save the day, ran away, when she saw me. I don’t know what to think.”

     “Hey, Ad? What are we going to do with Jen’s stuff?” Dan came back to his female colleague and saw a new customer sitting right next to the brunette. “Mr. Stark, welcome back. What can I get you?”

     “Whisky, well, two,” that was his only response. He was rather looking at Adeline, scanning her face.

     “I don’t know what we will do with them. We have to contact her family,” she gulped and wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’ve got to go. This was a very rough day. I have to call Monica, and tell her what happened today.” She stood from the chair, went to her colleague, and gave him a tight hug when he gave the order to Tony Stark.

     Before she left, Adeline took one of the glasses of whisky and drank it. She did the same as Tony did. After it, she left them alone in the bar. It was time to go home, time to lie down in the bed, and never wake up. This was a nightmare.

    “Adeline!” Tony shouted her name, which made her stop in the middle of the street, and turned to him. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know.” Dan told him what happened.

     “Because you only care about yourself,” she growled. “Everything is only about you, you selfish motherfucker!” With these words and tears in her eyes, Adeline moved forward, not listening to him anymore.  


	5. Chapter five – Revelation

                **Chapter five – Revelation**

                There was a silence at a cemetery. A lot of people were dressed up in black clothing, wearing black glasses, and holding a single red rose in one of their hands.  A priest was talking to the people, giving the last blessing to the young woman, who had died a few days ago. Everyone was quiet, listening to him, silently crying. In the first row, her family was sitting right in front of the casket. The mother was broken. Her oldest son had to be with her until the end of the ceremony. She almost passed out, because she was the first one who had to throw the rose into the pit.

    Adeline was standing behind all those people, giving the last good-bye to her friend. She wore a black tight skirt, a chemise of the same color with a black blazer on top of it. Her brown hair was brushed into a massive low bun. The make-up she put on her face was very easy, nothing extravagant. The silver tears were running down her cheeks.

     She thought of the last party, the last day they spent together. Jen had a smile of a six-year-old child, even her behavior could be compared to it, but she was intelligent and sweet to everyone. And now, she was gone – somewhere in the stars, looking down at the people who loved her, who she loved.

     There was supposed to be a small sitting after the funeral, but only the closest family was invited. Even her colleagues, or just Adeline, weren’t. When it all ended and the people slowly left the cemetery, Adeline was walking with Dan by her side, trying to hide the salty tears in her eyes.

     “Do you want a lift?” Dan asked her while they were walking to the parking lot. Monica was already waiting there for them with another girl. “We are going to the bar, have some drinks, and talk – remember Jen. Everyone will be there.”

    “Thank you, but I want to go home. Maybe I’ll give you a call, and come later,” she tried to smile at him, but it was very hard for her. She wasn’t in the mood for any kind of smile or other facial expressions. “Can you take me home, please, or somewhere near my street? I would like to take a hot shower, and eat something light. I wasn’t eating for a while.”

    Her friend nodded. The only thing he did was a tight hug with one hand around her shoulders. Together, they came to the other girls and finally got into Dan’s car. Dan was the driver; Adeline was sitting next to him, and Monica, with the female colleague, was in the back, quietly chatting. Adeline remained silent the whole time. She was scanning the streets of LA, surroundings, people, who were trying to live peacefully in this fabulous town.

     She felt the pain, but it was mixed with anger in her veins. She wanted a revenge, she wanted to stop that man, before another innocent people would die because of him, and his fire. Adeline wanted to kill him. She had a lot of reasons for it, but the death of her friend was when he crossed the line. No matter what her father told her – not to show her powers - she was determined to find Goth today and kill him. And if she dies today, it would be worth it. Why have superpowers and not use them?

     “Call me, if you change your mind,” that was the last sentence Dan told her. Adeline gave him a nod, then waved with her right hand and approached to the building. She heard the car left.

     When she was in her apartment, it was time to get ready for her mission. Right after she closed the entrance door, she took off her black clothes and threw them on a chair next to her workbench. Only the underclothing stayed on. The brunette turned on the laptop, which was lying on the bed. While it was loading, doing automatic actualisations, she took the catsuit out of her wardrobe and put it on. Adeline didn’t forget to set up the device, which changed her voice, but didn’t turn it on. After it, she destroyed the pretty bun, and brushed her hair into a high ponytail. Because she had a lot of spare time, she turned on a hair straightener and let it heat up. If she’s going on a mission, and it might me the last one in her life, she has to look good. Maybe they will remember her as The Beautiful Guardian. Suddenly, she smiled.

     When the computer was finally working, it was time to hack into the satellites and every public camera. That was the only way she could find the public enemy. The woman tried her best, and did everything, every method of finding him. There was another loading, re-counting, searching for the object.

     While the computer was working, and looking for any kind of information, Adeline finished her hair with the hair straightener and turned it off. Her brown hair was straight like never before. The length of the hair was under the shoulder blades. She took a section of hair and rolled it around an elastic band.  The woman had time for some makeup. She drew black lines on her eyelids, fixed the eyebrows, and at the end, she put a mask on her face. It was finally finished, matching the catsuit. Though, there was something missing.

    The last time she went into the field, she could only use her hands or shield. After the last incident, she got herself two iron bars for fighting. The basic length was about thirty centimeters, but when they spread, the length was about one meter. They could spread, and go back just with a quick move of her hands. She kept them on her back, where she created a leather cover for each of them. Some warriors had swords there, she had these iron sticks.

    Before she could put on black army boots, the computer gave her a signal of a result. She ran to the laptop and look at it. She found a record of _him_ – he was in a casino. Was that his next place for another “explosion party”? Adeline needed more information.

    It was almost dark outside when she was fully ready for this mission. The position of Goth changed. He went into another, much more famous casino. There were a lot of tourists, rich and influential people. This casino was the main settlement of the politics, and other famous people. She took a deep breath. Goth must have a plan, where he wants to kill the most important people in this country. It was time to go. Adeline checked herself in the mirror, even checked the shoelaces, and turned on the device for her voice. 

    “Let’s do this,” she said to herself with a different voice. Adeline felt good. The adrenaline increased in her veins. She was ready to kick some ass.

    Locking the front door, turning off the laptop, and shutting the lights off, she finally left her apartment by the balcony. This wasn’t the first time she had to climb up on the roof. From there she could get anywhere she wanted.

     The view from the roof was beautiful – the whole town was illuminated by colorful lighting. She didn’t enjoy the view for long. Adeline started to run and jumped on the other building. She never stopped, she continued. There was no time for stopping or catching a breath. It was just a matter of time until something happened. Goth was in a casino full of people. They didn’t know him, his face, but she did.

     After half an hour of running and jumping, she was finally near the casino. The view from a roof of a gallery was a very good choice. She could see everything from that spot. The woman had some time to breathe deeply, and calm her heartbeat.

    Her intuition, information from the internet, and cameras, were correct. Suddenly, a lot of people were running out of the casino, in a panic. There was chaos, but no explosion, no fire. What was going on? Even the employees ran out. It was time to move. There was no time for any hesitation. She used the fire stairs, in the back of the building.

     Before she could reach to the people, there was the missing explosion. It wasn’t huge like the earlier ones, and nothing much happened, until the front door burst open. Adeline immediately put her hands in front of her, and the shield spread around her, and many other people. They were safe for a while.

    “Look, it is _The Guardian_ ,” said someone near her. “She came to help.”

    “Help us!”                                                                                               

     These positive words brought a smile to her lips. She had a motivation – help the innocent people. “Everybody, get out!” she ordered loudly with a different voice. “This place is not safe! You are in great danger!”

    And there was that moment when she finally saw him at close quarters. Goth. He was wearing a special robotic suit. It had some weird grippers on both sides, which were floating around him like they were alive. He was dangerous, and the devilish smirk scared the hell out of her. But he was different, older, with longer gray hair, and muscles. The last time she saw him, he was this ordinary man, who had evil thoughts, and had a big quarrel with her father. She could remember his attitude, those eyes, and even voice. When she was younger, she was afraid of him.

     Adeline grabbed the iron bars, and with a quick move, they stretched into a full length. She was ready to fight him, not letting him know, who she is, and why she was doing it. The woman wanted revenge, and she could not wish for a better time and place. “Goth!” she screamed his name very angrily and got his attention. Her eyes were full of anger and hate.

    The man widely smiled and started to laugh. “Oh, this is brilliant.” His accent was strong; his eyes were hidden behind dark goggles, and he was slowly approaching her. “And what do you want, little one? You wish to fight me? Aren’t you scared?”

     Goth provoked her. Adeline ran towards him, clutching the bars in her hands, ready to attack him. “I want to kill you, you fucking bastard!” she growled. She jumped; her hands made a move and attacked him with the iron bars. The evil man was fast, avoiding the hit, and tried to attack her too. It was an equal fight between them. Both of them were fast, very skilled. She hit him with a stick, however, he returned it back, and she fell on her knees. It was a mere second, and she was already blocking his attacks. 

    Some people were watching this fight from a safe distance. They saw how _The Guardian_ tried to knock him down. A woman was fighting this huge, strong man. All of a sudden, he was the one who was winning. Adeline was suddenly on a ground, trying to recover from a powerful punch. Her vision was blurry. A robotic sound came from her right side. She turned her head to him, and in the last second, when a fire came out of his suit she put her hand up and protected herself with a purplish shield. She got herself some more seconds to recover. When the fire stopped, Goth seemed to be surprised. He never saw anything like this – a magical shield protecting a person.

     Adeline took her chance, removed the shield, and kicked him in his knee while he lost his focus. He fell down; an angry, painful sound came out from his throat. The woman grabbed the shafts, stood up, and continued with the fight. Now she was in advantage – using her kicking skills, she knocked him down.

     “An old man trying to beat me?” she started to laugh at him and took a deep breath. Adeline was standing above him, looking into his goggles. “You should have stayed at home, in a rocking chair, watching sitcoms, old man.”

    She wasn’t the only one who was laughing. He did the same thing. “Oh, and do you think that you can kill me?” he teased her. “Don’t be conceited, little girl. You are way too weak, you are unskilled. You won’t kill me. You don’t know how to do it. You don’t have the strength. I can see it in your magical eyes, little one.” A smirk came to his face.

     “Oh, shut the fuck up,” she rolled her green eyes and put one of the iron bars behind her back. The other one was still in her right hand. “Any last words, before I’ll kill you?” She was ready to put the stick into his throat.

     Goth started to laugh again. “Fuck you, little girl,” and after those words, a massive explosion was heard from the building. In a second, her eyes saw a fire coming straight to them. The instinct commanded her to raise her hands, and protect herself. The ashes and a black smoke, followed by some rocks devoured her. When everything ended, she could see the damage after the explosion. The shield disappeared, and Goth ran away.

     “Fuck!” she snarled. “Motherfucker!” she cursed under her nose one more time and looked around. He was nowhere to find. While putting the second shaft behind her back, into the cover, she went from the devastated building, right into the middle of the street. Goth had to be somewhere near. It was not possible to escape that quickly, or was it?

    Some people were hurt; some of them were lying on the ground and bleeding. The explosion was huge, and she was only able to protect herself. She couldn’t create a shield, which would protect the whole street.  Adeline didn’t know how to help them now. She needed to find Goth and end it. And there he was, trying to escape from her and the police.

     Adeline ran as fast as she could. She gritted her teeth; put her energy into the legs, just she could run faster. A shot was heard behind her. Someone tried to take her down – probably the police. But she wasn’t with Goth. He was the public enemy, her enemy. She heard another shot. Suddenly, she stopped, turned around, and protected herself with the shield. A bright light surrounded her. She could see the bullets running into the purplish thing. It absorbed them. When the shooting stopped, she started to run again, but without the shield. She didn’t know how to run and have it around her.

     After a while, Adeline stopped running. Goth was nowhere to find. He escaped her! If the police didn’t stop her, she could have caught him, and finally, kill him. However, the situation changed, and now Adeline was the main suspect. It was time to leave, and go home, but something lifted her up in the air. She couldn’t feel the ground under her feet, she was flying. Who the hell took her away? “Let me go!” Adeline screamed. That “someone” accepted her request and let her go while they were passing by the roof of a building.

     She fell on her knees and palms and rolled over to her back. The brunette took a deep breath; her eyes widened when she saw Iron Man right above her. “Shit!” she said to herself.

    “Who are you?” he asked her. It was Tony behind the mask. She knew him; she could recognize his voice. His arms were suddenly aiming at her. A light in his palms started to grow. That wasn’t a good sign. “Are you deaf?!” When the woman didn’t reply, he tried to shoot her.

    Adeline protected herself with the shield. “Leave me alone!” she screamed at him.

     The Iron Man was shocked when he saw that purplish magical thing around her. “Now seriously, who the fuck are you?!” he asked her another question. His voice wasn’t pleasant. “You are Goth’s sidekick, ha?!”

     Her eyebrows went up. “No, I am not! I was trying to kill him!” she shouted at him with an angry voice.

    “How can you do that?” he asked about the shield. “What are you?!”

     “That’s not your business!” she growled. Tony immediately attacked her, but she was still under the protection of her shield.  He tried his best to destroy it, but that never happened. “Stop it, you dick!”

     “WHO ARE YOU?!” his mask went on, and he showed his face. Tony’s chocolate brown eyes were staring at the unknown woman. Finally, his hands went down, and she could finally cancel the shield.

     “Queen Victoria, dickhead,” she replied cheekily and stood erect. Her knees were hurting her, but it wasn’t that bad. “You don’t have to know who I am.” With a quick move of a hand, she took one of the iron bars, and spun with it, ready to defend herself.

    “This is my town, and…”

    “This is my town too. Stop acting like everything belongs to you, Stark!” she scowled at him. “It is not about you! Not anymore.”

     Tony rolled his eyes. “Whatever,” he said, and the mask went back on his face. “Prepare to die, you weird crazy bitch.”

     In a second, they were in a fight. Adeline knew she had no chance with him. Stark’s suit was special - he was strong in it. When she hit him with a stick, he barely even felt that. “Fuck this shit,” she mumbled and threw a shield around her. When his armor touched the protective magical material, it threw him back, and he fell on the ground. “That was unexpected,” she said to herself. Now it was time to run away.

     He stood up. “You are not going anywhere!” Stark yelled at her. He was immediately next to her, and he grabbed the woman by her waist, not letting her go. She tried to get rid of him, kicking him in his armor, but he was stronger. “Let’s look under the mask, shall we?”

    “NO!” she screamed. She must remain confidential. “Let go of me!”

     Tony’s hand was on her face. Adeline could feel how his hand was pulling it down. With all the moving, the device, which changed her voice, unwillingly turned off. When she finally got out from his metal arms, Adeline realized her mask was missing. It was too late to cover her face. She looked into his face, an evil look was in her eyes, and she was breathing heavily.

     Tony’s mask went once again up. He was shocked. “Adeline?!”

     “Surprise,” she sighed.

    “What the fuck?!” he didn’t understand it. “How? Why?!”

     “Oh please, don’t act like you care,” the brunette rolled her eyes. She stood up, quickly grabbed her mask from his hand, and ran away from him. Tony was still in shock, that’s why she took the opportunity and escaped from him.

     “Young lady, you owe me an explanation!” he wanted to catch her a few seconds later, but she was already gone. The only thing he saw was empty roofs around him and even streets. She was good – he had to admit it.

     Adeline had been already way away from Iron Man. Once again, she used a big truck for transportation. She needed to create a plan because she was sure, Tony would like to visit her in the apartment. The only option she had was a “sleepover” at Monica’s place. On the corner of 54th street, she jumped off the truck and hid in a small dark alley. This inconspicuous street brought her to her building. The brunette had to be careful. What if he’s already there? She left her balcony open. Why did she sleep with him not long ago? How could she be so stupid?

     There were no people on the street. It was time to move. She quickly ran to the main entrance and opened it. She was lucky – none of the neighbors were around. Ste stepped into the elevator, and it lifted her up. When she was there, Adeline slowly went to her door. She listened carefully, but no sound was heard from her flat. Adeline took out a key from her bra – the only safe pocket for anything. She opened the door and entered it. There was quiet, no one was there except her.

     The brunette took off the army boots, catsuit, and put it into a traveling bag. There was no time to shower or any other girly stuff. She put there some clothes, laptop, charger, and as fast as she could, she put on some regular clothing.

     While she was leaving, she called Monica. “ _Hello_?” said a woman’s voice from the other side.

     “Hey, Mon. It’s me, Ad. Listen,” Adeline was speaking slowly, with a fear in her voice. “Can I please come to your place? I need a place to stay. Something unexpected happened. I’ll explain everything later. I just need a place for a night or two.”

   _“Oh, sure, Adeline. Is everything okay? I’ll be waiting for you. I’m on my way home from the bar. I’ll be there in five minutes.”_

    “Thank you. I’ve got to go. See you in a few minutes,” and then the call ended. Adeline locked her apartment, put the mobile into the pocket of her jeans, and went to her friend’s flat. Her place wasn’t safe anymore. Tony will try to find her, and it was just a matter of time when that would happen.    


	6. Chapter six – A fight is not a solution

**Chapter six – A fight is not a solution**

                “I still can’t believe there was a gas leaking in your building,” said a dark-haired young woman to her friend, while they were together eating breakfast. “Oh, horrible things have been going on lately. These explosions, attacks on our city, now this thing with gas – just imagine that the man would do something to your building while this situation!”

    Adeline gave Monica a light smile and took a bite of a chocolate cake. She was lying to her friend this whole time, and she wasn’t proud of it. “I know. It’s horrible! I’ll call the landlord, and ask him about the situation. Maybe today I’ll be able to go home, but I’m not sure. Hey, once again, thanks for letting me stay here with you.”

    “Hey, it is okay. I’m happy you are here. We had some fun, and maybe later we can have a small party here. Anyway, I have to go to work,” she stood up, wiped her hands on the trousers, took the dishes and put them in the dishwasher. “See you in the afternoon, Ad. I left you the keys in a bowl, next to the door. Take them. Oh, before you leave, please, check the windows, because they are in a devastating condition. Sometimes it is hard to close them. I should really pay for new one. Or I should just leave this dump.” Monica was already in the hall, checking her purse.

     “Yes, madam,” Adeline nodded. “I’ll take a shower, clean the kitchen and watch something on the TV. See you at four!”

    “Thank you, bye!”

     With a sound of a closing door, Adeline immediately ran to her traveling bag and put out the laptop. She took it back to the table, where she left the breakfast. She needed to check the news, and even her apartment. Was Tony already there? Was he angrily looking for her, destroying everything he found there? Her fingers were quickly pressing the buttons, trying to connect to some devices in her apartment. She looked at the camera records. Adeline installed some small camera devices into her place, just in case. Luckily, they weren’t visible. She opened some files and watched a video from camera one. Nothing happened there – no Tony, no Iron Man. Why? Was it some kind of a trick?

     Another probability was that Tony would be looking for her at work. And maybe, he wouldn’t be alone. What if he’s going to come to the bar with the police? She was panicking. Yesterday went wrong - mistake by mistake. She should have run away when she had an opportunity.

    “What should I do? What should I do now?” she was talking to herself. Adeline was nervous. What would Stark do to her, when they will meet face to face? An extra thought came to her mind – should she call her father? No, definitely not. That wasn’t an option.

    Tony knew her identity; he knew what she was capable of. However, normal people didn’t know anything about her. She was in a trap. She only had three solutions: One – she will go back to her place, and wait for Stark; two – she will go to work, and face him there; three – she will leave this city.

    “I’m not a sissy,” she sighed. “I’m going to face him like I did with other people.”

     That was her last and final decision. Adeline closed the laptop, put it back into the bag, and started to clean the kitchen like she promised her friend. That was the least she could do for her.

    When the kitchen was finally cleaned, the brunette took a long shower. The water washed the negativity and stress from her. She felt relaxed, smelled like a coconut, and the world was suddenly a better place. Of course, she was thinking about that billionaire – as always. The night they spent together was good – he was great in bed, but it was a mistake. What happened did.

     After the shower, she sat down and watched a sitcom on the TV. There was nothing else she could do until it was time to get ready for work. She put on some dark colored clothes – mostly black. The funeral was almost a day ago, and she wasn’t ready to wear bright colors, just for another day. This time, she wore skinny jeans, a shirt with a lace on her back, and ballerina flats.

    Adeline packed her bag and hung it up on her left shoulder. She was ready to face the new day at work, with Dan by her side. Adeline knew it was dangerous to bring her catsuit to work, but it was safer with her than in the apartment, or in Monica’s place.

     When she was on the street, everything looked so peaceful. The people were rushing to their works, some of the tourists had smiles on their faces, they were taking pictures of the buildings and streets, and even the sun was shining – like nothing ever happened in this city. Looking around, there were only some policemen, looking after the people, and securing the neighborhood. Adeline was slowly walking to the work. From Monica’s place, the way to the bar was much longer. She didn’t even use the subway for it. She loved walking, enjoying the view of the city, inconspicuously watching the citizens of L.A. 

     _You don’t have the strength_ ; these words were floating in her head. They came like a flash and made Adeline close her green eyes. Goth was underestimating her, making fun of her actions. Of course, she was able to kill him, but the situation changed rapidly. They thought she was very close of avenging her friend, made her shiver. _Maybe next time_ , she thought.

    Squeezing the strap of the traveling bag, Adeline went faster. A glass of water would be nice at the moment. The bar wasn’t that far away. She crossed the road, while she had the opportunity, and quickly ran into the bar. Adeline suddenly froze. Her eyes were looking directly into the chocolate brown one. She held her breath for a while and didn’t move.

     “Hey, Ad!” Dan smiled and gave her a wave with a hand. “Mr. Stark is waiting for you,” he giggled.

     “Hey, Adeline!” it was Monica’s voice from the back. She came to them with a bottle of the best whiskey they had.

    The brunette was speechless. She was holding her bag like her life depended on it. Is Tony going to talk about what happened last night in front of her friends? She opened her mouth, but Tony was the one who started to talk. “Can we speak somewhere more privately?” his voice was calm, he was still looking at her.

    “If you want, you can go to the changing room or the warehouse?” Monica suggested.

     “We’ll go outside,” said Adeline suddenly. She cleared her throat. “Mr. Stark?” and she cocked her head to one side, giving him a sign to move the way she wanted.

     Tony stood up, fixed his dark blazer, and looked at Monica. He gave her a sexy wink, which made her giggle, and slowly went to the door, behind the counter. Adeline had to roll her eyes. She wasn’t happy about this. Her soul was shaking in her body.

     “Hey,” Monica stopped her, “what is going on between you two?” she said quietly.

    “Absolutely nothing,” she gritted her teeth. “I’ll be right back.”

     Tony was strangely calm. Adeline could see it on his face. He waited for her while she put the traveling bag in the dressing room. After it, they both quietly went out on the back street. There were no people, only buildings, trash bins, and a road for the delivery vehicles.

     The silence didn’t remain any longer. Tony was the one who grabbed Adeline by her wrist and smacked her against a wall. It was a shock for the brunette. The man with an ARC reactor in his chest was squeezing both of her wrists now and held her against the wall. “What the…”

    “Look at little miss special,” said Tony with an angry voice.

    “Let me go, Stark, or you’ll pay for it. I swear!” she could feel his breath on her skin. He was strong, but without his suit, this was nothing. “You will regret the day when you were born!”

     “Oh, don’t threaten me, Adeline,” he rolled his eyes. “What are you?! Tell me!”

     “No!” she made a quick, strong move, and made herself free. With a fast kick, Tony was suddenly on the ground, lying. “I don’t have to tell you anything, Stark.” Adeline’s leg was up, ready to kick Tony’s face if necessary.

    His sight was a little blurry. That woman had some strength. “Young woman, you now have two options. You will tell me everything, or I’ll give you to the government, and mark you as Goth’s sidekick. The choice is up to you.”

    She wanted to hit him so badly, but she couldn’t. Something was holding her – the thoughts of her being in prison, letting down her family, and the people who known her as The Guardian. Adeline put her leg next to the other one; her tongue brushed the teeth and took a step back. “I am not Goth’s sidekick. I never was, I never will.”

     “Then what are you?” Adeline remained silent. Tony slowly stood up; his eyes were looking into the green orbs. “How can I trust you?”

    “And how can I trust you, Tony?!” she yelled at him. “How can I know you won’t betray me when I’ll tell you everything, huh?!” Her green eyes were darker, full of anger. “Do you think it is that easy for me?! To tell you what am I? You?”

     “And why not?” he asked.

     “Because I don’t like you, Tony! While you were trying to play the hero, I was the one who always cleaned the mess after you. I was the one who protected the people and made sure they were okay. Have you ever looked back? Have you seen the damage you had done in this city? Yes, you tried to defeat the bad guys, but a lot of people may have died. But I saved them.”

    “Should I congratulate you?” he raised his eyebrows. “Do you think that I would never save them if I had the opportunity? You are wrong, Adeline. Sometimes, you can’t do two things at the same time.”

     Once again, she needed to punch him in his face, and knock him to the ground, but she counted to ten in her mind. “I know you can’t, but all you had to do was go back, and make sure the people were fine, or if they needed anything.”

    There was a silence between them. They were looking into each other’s eyes, looking for something, that would move this conversation forward. “Why? Why? Why, Adeline? Why are you doing this?” Tony asked, but she remained quiet because those questions were confusing to her. “Tell me who the fuck are you. Are you really this bartender, waitress? Do you really work here? Is your name Adeline?”

     “Should I show you my ID?”

    “It can be fake,” he snapped.

    “You’re an idiot,” Adeline rolled her eyes. “See?! How can I trust you, when you don’t trust me?”

     “I can’t trust you after yesterday!”

    “Oh my fucking god! This will be a long day,” Adeline rolled her eyes and brushed her hair with fingers. “You know what, Stark? If there is nothing else what you would like to say then I’m going to get back in, and start to work.”

     She took a few steps to the door when Tony’s hand once again grabbed her wrist and pulled her close to him. “You are not going anywhere, Adeline,” he said calmly while he was scanning her face with chocolate eyes. “You and I are going to talk about this problem.”

    “No, we are not, Tony. The only one who’s having a problem at the moment is you, not me,” Adeline shook his hand from hers. “Deal with it.”

     When she wanted to finally leave Tony alone, he made another move with his hand, trying to stop her one more time. But Adeline didn’t like this touch – it was harder, unpleasant. That’s why she made a quick move and attacked him. Her fist almost hit him in his face, but Tony dodged it and did the exact same thing. A fight started between them. Both of them wanted to hit the other one. Adeline kicked him with right leg right into his hip. When she had the opportunity to knock him down, Tony blocked it and punched her in the stomach. Another move caused her to fall on her knees. They were fighting like children because none of them would like to have a normal conversation.

    “Enough!” Adeline moved her hand forward, and a shield appeared in front of her, trying to protect herself. Tony almost made a contact with the purplish magical half-ball, which would mean a disaster for him. “I am not going to fight you, Stark!” she took a deep breath. Her stomach was in pain. This wasn’t right and she knew it. “I am not a bad guy. I’m not your enemy.” And suddenly the shield disappeared.

    Tony was looking at the brunette with his brown eyes, loudly breathing, and scanning her figure on the ground. She was kneeling in front of him, her hair was messy, and she held her stomach with one hand.

    “I am different than other people. You just have to accept it,” she slowly stood up, and for the last time, she heavily inhaled the oxygen. “I’m here to help, not to hurt.” Those were her last words to him. Adeline slowly went to the door, opened them and went inside, leaving Tony alone.

     He was just looking at her, rethinking what just happened. That woman had a strong punch. A smirk came to his face. One day, they had a one-night stand together, and he had to admit, the sex was amazing. The other day, they were fighting against each other. And then he thought of one thing: Maybe they were supposed to meet. Tony didn’t believe in faith. This was just a coincidence.

    …

    “Hey, you’ve been quiet all day.” Dan was cleaning the last glasses, and putting them into their place. “Is everything okay?” he asked her nicely.

    Adeline tangled her hair and checked the money one last time. They were finally closing the bar. This day was very weak – not many people, not enough money in the cashbox. The citizens weren’t probably in the mood for beer, or whiskey. They were too afraid to go out. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just,” she cleared her throat, “yesterday was the funeral, and there was a gas leak in our building…”

     “Yeah, Mon told me. Is everything alright now? Where are you staying for the night?”

    “Oh, I’m going back home, and…” her speech was interrupted by a knock on the entrance door. Both of them look there, discovering it was the one and only Tony Stark. “Oh no, what now?” Adeline was already annoyed. Luckily, Dan was the one who opened the door for him. Adeline could continue with her work.

    “Mr. Stark, we are closed,” said Dan with a calm, sweet voice, and gave him a friendly smile. “We appreciate your visit, but…”

    “I have to speak with Adeline. It’s urgent,” he said, trying to get inside, even when Dan was against it. Adeline raised her head up, squinted her eyes, and shook her head without enthusiasm. She wasn’t happy about this at all. Why was he still bothering her? Wasn’t that fighting enough?

    “Mr. Stark…”

    “Dan, it’s fine.” Adeline couldn’t believe what she just said. “Go home, have some rest. I can handle him,” she winked with one eye at him with a teasing smile. “I handled many people like him,” she gave Tony a sarcastic smirk. “One Stark is nothing.”

    “Okay, Ad,” Dan nodded and locked the door once again. “I’m just going to grab my stuff, and I’ll leave you two alone.” Adeline knew he wasn’t happy about it. She would be with Tony alone, again. He was afraid of her because he was Adeline’s friend. In a few minutes, he was gone, leaving the two of them alone.

     The brunette put the last glasses on its place, cleaned the marble, and took care of the money from the cash box. She tried to ignore the man as long as she could. “Adeline…”

    “A fight is not a solution,” they said at the same time. She had to look at him. They had the same thoughts. “Wow, I can’t believe you said that,” she shook her head from surprise. “You, the greatest Tony Stark.”

      “Oh, no-no – I am the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist,” there was a smirk on his face.

    “Ah, what a narcissist,” she laughed under her nose. “Tony, you have to understand this isn’t easy for me,” she sighed. “I never said anything about me to my friends, and now you want me to tell you everything? We don’t even know each other.” Before he could say anything, she continued. “One-night stand doesn’t count.”

     “So how about this – try to see me as a work partner. If we work together, and try our best to stop that son of a fire bitch then…”

     “Are you offering me a team work?” Adeline raised her eyebrows and look into his chocolate brown orbs. “Why? Yesterday you wanted to kill me, today we were fighting, and now this?”

    “I didn’t know it was you! I thought it was some weird crazy woman…”

     “You called me weird crazy bitch,” she crossed her arms on breasts.

     “But you are! Just look at you,” he laughed. Tony was making fun of her but in a friendly way. She wanted to slap him on his shoulder, but he dodged it. “In fact, you called me a dickhead.”

     “I know,” she smiled brightly at him. “Okay, Tony, back to being serious – well, if you can do that,” she snapped her fingers.

    “Okay, I’ll try,” he nodded. This whole time, he was standing on his feet, next to the chair, trying to have a conversation with the woman. He finally sat down, put his hands on the counter, and scanned her face. “I know we will have trust issues, but I was thinking about this situation, and I came with a great plan.” He took a deep breath. “Me and you – we will try to work together. You have your weird, but interesting ability.”

    “My shield is awesome,” she gave him another smirk. “I was born this way, Tony. I can create a shield, and, in fact, you are not the only genius in this room.”

     “Oh, I have another competitor. But you are no way better than me.”

     “Oh honey, you wish,” she created a grimace on her face. “So, how should we end this? Are we a team now or what?”

     They were looking into each other’s eyes. Tony’s hand slowly reached for her. He was waiting for a handshake to seal the deal. “We are now working partners. No more killing, no more fighting with each other. But you have to promise me, you are not working with Goth. I would be very unhappy if I have to kill a sexy woman like you.”

    “Stop flirting with me, Stark. Nothing’s going to happen between us,” she rolled her eyes and gave him her hand for a handshake. “We have a deal. And I promise on my life, I am not working with Goth. He’s my mission, my enemy.” That was it, they sealed the deal. Famous Tony Stark became a work partner with a normal woman with special abilities.

    “Are you sure you don’t want another one night stand?” he winked at her.

     “Very funny, Stark. I need to close this place and finally go home. Hey, I thought you would be looking for me at my place, but you never showed there. Why?” she was curious. Their hands separated.

    “I knew you wouldn’t be at home. That’s why I came here today. I have to admit, you are pretty strong. Nice fighting skills. You were pretty sexy.” He did his best to flirt with her again.

    “Thank you, I’ve been practicing, and no, Tony, we won’t have another one night stand,” Adeline rolled her eyes. “Today afternoon we were fighting. Don’t you expect now, we will be something like super best friends with benefits or what.” She took the money in a special box. “Wait here, I have to put them in the safe,” she was on her way when she suddenly stopped, and turned to him. “Would you be so kind, my dear work partner, and drive me home?”

    “Oh, so you won’t sleep with me, but a lift home would be suddenly nice, huh?” he mocked her.

    “If I had a bottle in my hand, I would throw it into your face, Stark.”

    “Less talking, more working. You have five minutes, Adeline,” he pointed at his watch while she showed him her tongue. Suddenly she was gone with the money.

    Tony was still sitting on a chair, looking around, scanning the bottles of alcohol they had there. He liked some of the brands of whiskey they had. They were one of the best. He took a special phone of his from a pocket of jean and connected it to his system. While he was waiting for the brunette, he started to work on his latest project.

     “Nice device you’ve got there,” said the brunette. She was holding her bag, the apron was already gone, and her hair was in a ponytail. “You created it?”

    “What do you think?” he ended his work and put the device back into the pocket. “Come little miss special, time to go home.”


	7. Chapter seven – Unconsciousness

**Chapter seven – Unconsciousness**

                It was strange. Everything that happened was weird, like an unbelievable reality, but it did happen. Adeline and Tony became work partners, and it was him who suggested it. One day, they wanted to kill each other, and all of a sudden, after a “normal” conversation, they were working together. The past was erased like nothing ever happened before.

    Adeline thought about it for days. It was so unbelievable for her. She never liked him. He was known as the arrogant billionaire, who slept with girls, and as Iron Man – protecting the people with this special suit. She was so judgmental. But her opinion changed a little. He wasn’t that bad at all, and he was great in bed - once again she had to admit this fact. They slept together only once, even though he wanted to have another one night stand. She didn’t care if he was a womanizer because she did the same thing – slept with various men when she had the opportunity. The only thing that mattered was their mission – kill Goth.

    An enemy brought them together.

    “Seriously, Adeline, what’s between you and Stark?” Monica asked while they were working together. She was cleaning the glasses and preparing another order. Adeline was cleaning the coffee maker. “Yesterday, he was once again here, looking for you. I think he has a crush on you.”

    Adeline laughed. “Who, Tony, crush on me? Oh please, honey,” she rolled her green eyes. “There is nothing going on between us,” she moved her shoulders as a sigh of not being interested in him. “We just have some similar interests, that’s all.”

    “I wouldn’t be surprised if you say that you slept together,” she chuckled and put the drinks on the tray. But the brunette didn’t confirm, or denied it. She remained silent and rather went to the warehouse just to check the supplies. The only thing she heard was: “You did not!”

    “Oh gosh, don’t be so judgmental!” said Adeline to her friend when she got back. Monica had already been back with an empty tray and scanned her friend with eyes. She wanted to hear all the details. “Oh, you have got to be kidding me. I am not going to tell you about it. It’s not your business, my friend.”

    “Come on, Ad! Please?”

    “No.”

    “It will be just between us girls, I promise!” she was jumping in front of the brunette, holding her hands, and begging with her puppy eyes. “Come on, tell me!”

    “Okay, fine!” she said quietly. “But it’s just between us, okay? If you tell anyone, I will personally kill you, is that clear?” Monica almost screamed when she heard that sentence. “Calm down!”

    “Sorry,” she laughed. “I’m listening,” she whispered.

    Adeline looked around the bar. The people were talking to each other, not paying attention to the waitresses. She cleared her throat, a smirk appeared on her face, and she started to talk about that one night. “It happened when I was working with Dan, and…”

    Other words were interrupted by a noise. It was very loud and strong. That wouldn’t be the worst thing. All the windows broke, some people were hit by the broken glass, and some of them were thrown away by a pressure wave – including Adeline and Monica. A new attack was happening – this time, it was somewhere near the bar. Adeline fell on the floor. She landed on the ground, but nothing happened to her. However, Monica hit her head against the edge of the marble. There was a big wound on the back of her head, and it was bleeding. A dark dust was floating in the damaged room. The conscious people were shocked, talked to each other about the situation and tried to help one another. The brunette slowly pushed her body from the ground, and looked around. Her sight was blurry, and she couldn’t see what was happening until she saw a body lying next to her.

    “Monica!” she screamed and immediately moved to her. She could see the blood on the floor, the pale face of her friend, but she was conscious, looking around, mumbling something under her nose. “Mon, I’m here,” she breathed heavily. The brunette grabbed her hand. “Please stay with me, Mon. Talk to me.”

     “Ad?” it sounded so sweetly. “What’s going on?”

    “I’m here with you. Everything will be alright. I promise.” Adeline looked around. She couldn’t see anyone near them. Trying to make a screaming noise, another explosion, which was much more dangerous, happened. The woman shot her hand in front of herself, and the shield protected both her and Monica.

    “You are the guardian,” said the bleeding girl quietly. “You are the one…”

    “Yes, I am,” Adeline quickly nodded. “But it’s our secret, alright? You can’t tell it to anyone. Promise me that,” she tried to smile at her. The shield disappeared when the situation was calmer, and both of them were safe. The next thing she did, Adeline took a dishcloth and put it on the friend’s wound. “Mon? I’ll be back in a second. I have to check the other people, okay?” and she saw how her friend slowly nodded.

    Adeline stood up; she finally saw the damage of the whole place. It was a disaster, everything was ruined – the tables were flipped, some chairs were broken. “Shit,” she said. A lot of people were still lying on the floor, but the other did their best to help them. Adeline could ask them for help, but she needed to look outside, and check the situation there. What if Goth was there?

    The scenario was the same like every time. People were screaming for help, panicking, praying to God for help. Another building was destroyed – not completely. The brunette took a deep breath of a fresh air. She couldn’t see the villain through the crowd of people. Adeline found a cap on the ground and put it on her head. Then she found a yellow kerchief, and put at around her face, just to be undercover.

    “Give me the cure!” someone screamed near her. When she turned around, she saw Goth fighting with Iron Man. The fight was happening on the ground. Goth’s technique was upgraded, which wasn’t a surprise at all.

    “What the fuck are you talking about?” Tony asked him and punched him in the face. “I don’t have your damn cure you, psychopath!”

    The brunette looked around. She was looking for some kind of a weapon. There were only rocks, pieces of the building, and then she found some kind of a thin sharp iron stick. His back was facing her – this was a great opportunity for her. She could attack him from behind. Adeline took it, clutched it in her fist, and quietly, very carefully ran to them.

    Tony saw what she was about to do. He did his best and tried to keep Goth the same way as he was. He put his hands in front of himself; the repulsors were loaded, ready to strike. When Adeline was close enough, she made a fast, but strong move with her hand, and hit him straight in his right unarmoured shoulder. The thin iron sharp went through the skin and muscles. The man made a painful scream.

    “That’s for Jen, you motherfucker!” she growled into his ear, and turned the shaft to the left, causing him more pain. She had his blood on her hands. Adeline forgot she didn’t have her voice changing device, so she could be revealed.

    Goth made a quick turn to her and punched the woman right into the stomach. She was immediately on the ground lying. “You bitch!” said Goth grumpily. “That was a dumb move!” He rapidly pulled out the stick from his shoulder and looked at it. “You thought this would hurt me?” he laughed.

    When he was talking to Adeline, Tony attacked him from behind and shot him into the armor. Nothing much happened, only the left side wasn’t working correctly. “What a dynamic duo,” said Goth with a laugh. “Do you think this can stop me?”

    “What do you want?!” Tony yelled at him.

    “I told you, Stark. I want the cure!”

    “I don’t have any. You ran into the wrong person!”

    Goth rolled his eyes. One of his fire tentacles was aiming at Adeline, the other on Tony. “He said he gave it to you.”

    “Who said that? Seriously, octopus, who said that?”

    The older man sighed. He was annoyed by everything. “My very old friend, the greatest scientist Martin Montana,” he said with a sarcasm in his voice.

    “Oh no,” Adeline quietly sighed, and slowly stood up on her feet, ready to fight if necessary. Her eyes were locked at Tony, waiting for his reaction.

    “Who the hell is that? I’ve never heard of that name.”

    “You are lying!” he growled once more. “Give me the cure, Stark, or many people will die,” and he took a small device from his armor. There was a red button on the top of it. A bomb was hidden somewhere near them. “I can blow this whole place up, or maybe the shops, or the cute bar, which is pretty much devastated.”

    “No!” Adeline screamed out loud. “Monica!” she started to run towards the bar. There was her injured friend, and she promised her, everything will be alright. “Monica!”

    “Well, I think I just made my choice,” Goth smiled at Tony devilishly and pushed the button. Iron Man shot the man down, right into his chest, where was the center of the suit. Maybe he didn’t kill him, maybe he did, but he needed to save the woman.

    “Ad!” Tony screamed and immediately flew to her.

    She was almost there when a new explosion came right from the bar. It was massive; a fire came out from the broken windows and even another pressure wave. Because Adeline was very close, the pressure threw her away, and she landed on some car. The only thing she heard was a screaming sound from somewhere, and a sound of a flying thing coming to her…

    …   

_Adeline…     Adeline…     Adeline…_

    The sound of her name was soft and feminine. But it was changing, becoming more masculine. She could recognize the voice, even when she was somewhere in the dark. It felt like an eternity - being trapped in the darkness, only able to hear her name, and not able to wake up from this weird dream. And suddenly, she resuscitated and opened her eyes. For the first seconds, she could only see a white light, making her blind. It slowly became much less painful, and she could recognize a weird unfamiliar ceiling. The brunette took a deep breath. “Monica?” that was the first thing she said. Her voice was low.

    “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty,” said a masculine voice near her. A person appeared next to her. It was Tony. His chocolate, dark eyes were gazing into her green orbs. “How do you feel?”

    “Stark,” she gulped, and immediately sat down. It was a mistake. Her whole body was in pain, even her head hurt. She sighed. “Not good,” she rolled her eyes. Her face was frowning. “What happened? I can’t remember much.”

    “You landed on a car, and I took you away from there because you needed help, and I bet you didn’t want to go to the hospital, because of your identity, so I took you here,” he explained very quickly. There was a smirk on his face. “You don’t need to thank me.”

    “What about Goth?” she slowly stretched her arms and spine. Her clothes were covered in dust, and dirt.

    “Eh,” a sound escaped his lips. “You hurt him, I destroyed his armor – I think – and he probably ran away. There was a chaos, another explosion. This city isn’t safe anymore. While you were sleeping for over a day…”

    “What?!” she was shocked. “For over a day?!”

    “Let me finish, drama queen,” he stopped her. “I was talking with the air force, the police, and after some negotiations, and discussions, we created a plan, which also includes you – The Guardian.”

    “Oh?” she wasn’t sure about this.

    “I explained to them that you are the one protecting the people,” he smirked at her. “The Guardian will be with us, helping with this mission, protecting the people as much as she can.”

    “With us – that means?”

    “Me – the Iron Man, you – the Guardian, and my friend James Rhodes – the Warmachine,” he explained. He was suddenly smiling brightly at her. “He will be now available for this mission.”

    “James Rhodes? That man from the bar, your friend, is the Warmachine? Wow. This is unexpected,” Adeline said surprisingly. “Why didn’t he help earlier? There is another Iron Man…”

    “No – no. I’m the only Iron Man,” he corrected her.

    Adeline rolled her eyes once again. “Whatever. He could have been with you this whole time! Goth could be dead like weeks ago! Another question of mine is: how did he get away from the prison? You should have killed him when you had the opportunity!”

    “Whoa! What’s with the attitude and yelling?” he frowned at her and crossed his arms on chest. “How should I know he would get out of there, and try to devastate this whole city, just because of some stupid cure? I didn’t even know he put a bomb somewhere near your bar!”

    And then she remembered. She ran toward the bar, because Monica was there, injured, waiting for her help. She gave her a promise, but she couldn’t keep it. “What happened with the bar, Tony?” she asked with a fear in her voice. He didn’t reply. The man was just looking at her; his face was without any emotions. “Tony?!” her green eyes widened. “Tony, please tell me…”

    “He blew up the bar, Adeline,” he dryly swallowed. “I’m sorry, but nobody…”

    “No,” she shook her head. “No, no, no!” her eyes began to water. “That’s impossible. He didn’t,” her lower lip was shaking.

    “I’m sorry, Adeline,” he whispered. “Five people died, and your colleague was one of them too.”

    “No,” she began to cry. Adeline covered her face with palms. “Not Monica, no!” she couldn’t believe it. “W- Why is he doing this? She was my friend. He killed another friend of mine!”

    Tony took a step closer to her. He didn’t know how to react, so he just put his hand on her right shoulder, and softly stroke it. “He did it obviously for some dumb cure, from this guy, whom I don’t know,” he said softly. “Hey, don’t worry. We will stop him, okay? We will kill him because I won’t let that dick destroy this city. And you can avenge your friends,” he patted her on the shoulder, and slowly went away from the woman.

    “Tony?” she sobbed. The man turned to her. “There is something I need to tell you.” She took a deep breath. “I-,” she sighed and wiped a tear from one eye. “I am Adeline Montana.” This information made him squint his eyes and listen carefully. “I am the daughter of Martin Montana,” she sighed.

    “What?” he sounded surprised.

    “Martin Montana is my father. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I couldn’t.”

    “Why? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” he frowned at the woman. “This information changes the whole situation.”

    “It does not!” she protested. “You don’t know nothing from their past - from our past.”

    “Then you better start singing, young lady,” he was suddenly in front of her, looking into her eyes, and waiting for some answers. “So there is this war between your father and that weird flame-boy…”

    “But I don’t know what exactly is happening between them. I know something, but it’s not enough!” she stood up on her feet, but she almost fell down on the ground. Every wound, every bruise was hurting her like hell. Tony helped her sit back down on this table of his. “They used to be friends, best friends,” she sighed, “but one day, something happened between them. My father was a successful scientist with many creations. Probably Goth was jealous.” She wanted to talk about it, for the first time in her life, but she was afraid.

    “Ad, you can tell me,” he gave her this little smile. “I need to know, because then we can figure things out, okay? I-“ there was a pause, “I trust you. I need you to trust me, okay Adeline?”

    She nodded. “Okay. J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Tony said some name out loud. “I need you to write down information from Adeline.”

_~Yes, Sir.~_

    “What was that?” she asked him. Her eyes were wide open, looking around the whole unknown place. She just realized where she was. A room where were various luxury cars, computers, technique, and Iron Man suits. This was probably Tony’s laboratory / garage.

    “That’s Jarvis, my buddy; it’s a system I’ve created. He’s very intelligent. J.A.R.V.I.S. means Just A Rather Very Intelligent System,” Tony explained.

    “Oh, okay,” she nodded in agreement. She brushed her messy hair with fingers and scanned the place. “This is a horrible day,” she sighed. “Why them? Why not me?”

    “Okay, Ad, relax. Inhale and exhale. I think you need a glass of water, and maybe some food.”

    “What I need is a bottle of rum.” There was an emptiness in her eyes. Those green orbs were without any emotion like her soul just died. “Or maybe two bottles.”

    “As much as I would like to get drunk with you, I don’t think this is the best idea at the moment,” he laughed a little. “Come,” he set his hand to her. “We’ll sit over there,” he showed her the leather sofa he had near the entrance glass door. “It’s much more comfortable.”

    She didn’t say a word. Adeline, with Tony’s help, stood up, and together they slowly went to the sofa, where Adeline sat down, and Tony went to the kitchen counter. He had a small kitchen in his garage. She immediately hugged her knees and put the chin on top of them. “I hate my life.”

    “And why is that, Adeline?” he asked and gave her a glass of fresh cold water.

    “Because I have to lie, I have to keep secrets, and I can’t even have friends. My girls are both dead!” A tear appeared in her eye. “They are dead, and I couldn’t even help them! I can create a shield, but I can’t even protect the people I care about!” she blamed herself. Tony was listening to her the whole time. “It’s not easy, living with these powers I have. I never had real friends. I was born with these abilities; I was trained to protect myself, but never showed who I really was.” Adeline was surprised; she could speak about herself that easily. “I never had a life like any other child. My sister’s life was, and still is amazing. She has friends, she can do all these girly stuff. She doesn’t even have these special abilities. Oh, my god, I’m panicking like a teenager.”

    “But does she know me? Of course not!” Tony tried to make Adeline smile a little.

    “Tony, I don’t know what is really going on between my father and Peter,” said the brunette.

    “Peter?”

    “Peter Tunderbalt – that is Goth’s real name.”

    “Jarvis?”

    _~I’m looking for Peter Tunderbalt, sir. ~_

    Adeline looked around like she was looking for another person. “I love this system,” she smiled a little. “I think this is my new life now - a life where people, friends die, there are attacks on this city, and we cannot do anything with it. Is it possible, we can’t beat one old guy?”

    Tony gave the brunette a glass of water and sat down right next to her. “Listen, gorgeous,” he put one palm on her knee, “we’ll kill him. He has taken so many lives; we don’t know how many people will die next. But we won’t let that happen. Okay? Now, I suggest we’ll have some food, and we’ll start to work, what do you say?”

    Adeline gave him a simple nod. “Let’s do this.”


	8. Chapter eight – It is in your veins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long. I was in Prague for a couple of days and completely forgot to publish another chapter. Now, I'm back home, reading and writing.

**Chapter eight – It is in your veins**

“Oh great, he isn’t taking my calls.” Adeline was getting more and more nervous. Tony gave her an older phone, he found in his drawer. She was calling to her father, leaving him many messages. She needed to see him, talk to him, and figure things out. “I left like five voice messages and nothing!”

_~ Peter Tunderbalt, also known as the Mad Scientist, Goth, was one of the greatest scientists of the 1970’s - 80’s. He had many people around him, but one of them, Martin Montana, was his closest friend and lab partner. Together they had created many inventions, or medicine, which are now very useful and popular.~_ JARVIS gave them some information, which caught Tony’s attention.

    “When I was younger, I remember how my dad used to talk to him, but it wasn’t a friendly conversation. I remember some moments, where he hid me in a closet, and told me to be quiet. At that time, I was three years old? They were arguing, yelling at each other. Even my mother was scared. I don’t remember their conversation, but I knew something was happening, and it wasn’t good,” Adeline explained, when she had the opportunity. “But I do remember how they were talking about a cure – this special serum, which was quite unique. Peter wanted it, but my father refused to give it to him. They used to be best friends, but ever since this cure was created, their friendship ended.” She took a deep breath while ambling around a table. “One thing that I certainly know is, he’s unstoppable, very powerful man, and he can do insane things,” she said it dramatically. “I somehow knew he would get out of the prison. I knew the police won’t stop him. He is dangerous, even when he’s older, but he’s smart.”

    “And why didn’t you tell me this at the very beginning?” Tony was sitting on his leather couch, his feet were up on its elbow, and his eyes were closed. She didn’t say anything because she didn’t know what exactly to say. “So, to sum it up, your father and flame-boy had or still have a problem, and somehow I am a part of it. Great.”

    “Oh, hey, don’t blame me. I have nothing to do with this,” her hands were immediately up as a sign of innocence. “Yes, somehow you are a part of this. It was a surprise for me too. Listen, I will find out why my father did this.”

    “And how are you planning to do that?” he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. The woman was standing near the sofa, looking at a wall painting of Iron Man. He could see her thin, attractive legs, and her tight ass. It was like a gift to him. “I have the best view right now.”

    When she turned to him and saw a big grin on his face, she wanted to slap him. “I know I have a nice ass. Thank you for noticing,” Adeline gave him a wink and moved to another place. She needed to look around, and see his special toys. They were fascinating, and she felt like she was in a land of wonderful innovations. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. He isn’t calling me back. I don’t know what is going on. What if something happened to him, to my family?”

    Tony slowly sat down, stretched his arms, and stood up on his feet. “First of all, you need to calm down. Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll order some food for us, okay?”

    “I’m fine, it’s just…”

    “No, you are not,” he shushed her. “Just look at you, Adeline,” he stepped forward to her and put his hands on her shoulders. “You need to gain some energy, okay? A lot of things are happening around you. So why won’t you just sit down, and take a deep breath, while I’ll order some food, and call Rhodes, would you? I’ll be right back.”

    The only thing she did was nodding. She winced and shook his hands from her shoulders. “Okay, fine, as you like, Stark,” she sighed. Adeline found the first comfortable office chair and sat on it. “I’ll be waiting, not touching anything.”

    “Oh, you better you, little minx. JARVIS keep an eye on her, would you?”

_~Yes, sir. ~_

    Tony left Adeline in his garage. She remained in the same position; looking around with her eyes, scanning the place, and enjoying the technique of his. Yes, he was a genius. At least one thing was for sure true. Her hands were on her knees, she could feel the pain in her spine. She was unconscious for one day. What happened with the destroyed bar, and with Monica? Was she really dead? Suddenly, she felt how the anxiety was filling her veins, every cell in her body. The more she was thinking about the occasions, the less she was focusing on the present. Her long, thin fingers ran into her hair and brushed the long bangs from her eyes. Luckily, some random tones broke away her thinking. It was her old mobile phone – someone was calling. Adeline ran to the device and looked at the number. It was an unknown caller.

     She picked up the call. “Hello?”

    _“Hey, it’s me,”_ a male voice came from the other side. “ _I don’t have much time._ ”

    “Father, what is going on?” she gasped. “Is everything okay? What about mom and Natalie?”

_“Everything is okay. Is there something important, you need to speak with me? If not, then…”_

    “No, wait!” she stopped him before he could end the call. “I need to meet you. There are some important matters that need to be discussed as soon as possible. It is very important, dad! And I can’t talk about it through the phone. Also, I would like to see mom and my sister.”

_“You can’t. They are both away, having a vacation in another country. If it is that important, we can meet. I’ll write you when and where okay? Expect a text message. Now I have to go. Good-bye, Adeline.”_ And with that, the line went end. The woman was staring at the old device, not believing her ears. That was it?

    After a short minute, the mobile rang again. It was a sound of a message. When she opened it, there was written **: Tomorrow, 5 pm, Las Vegas, Royal Casino. Take the first flight tomorrow morning.**

    That was fast. And so was Tony. He came back with a smile on his face, eating a bag of crisps. His ARC reactor was shining from under his Black Sabbath shirt, and when he came into the room, he licked his fingers. “Okay, so Rhodes is on his way. And about the food…”

    “I’ve got to leave, Tony,” she said calmly, looking directly into his chocolate eyes. “I just had a call, and I need to solve this problem.” She found her remaining stuff on the table, where she woke up. It was the stolen cap and a kerchief.

    “Hey, whoa, where do you think you’re going now? Rhodey is coming here, we need to work on our plan,” Tony immediately stopped her. “You can’t leave.”

    “Yes, I can. And I will. If we want to know some answers, I have to go, and discover something new, which may help us.”

    “Where are you going then?” Tony curiously asked.

    “I can’t tell you, Tony,” she shook her head. “I wish I could, but I can’t, for everybody’s safety. Please, believe me. When I’ll be back, I will tell you everything, so you could trust me, okay? But now, I have to go.”

    “And, how are going to get to the city?” his eyebrows went up, and he gave her a mocking smirk. “You are in Malibu, and it is impossible to catch a bus or something else here. So in the end, you have to stay here with me, and work. And, if you are a good girl, I can give you a lift home. What do you say?”

    “What? Tony, no,” she refused his offer. “I have to leave, now.”

    “Oh, come on, Adeline.”

    “I’m sorry, Tony, but I must go. This is way more important at the moment. I’ll be back soon.”

…

    The whole place smelled like money. People were spending their hard earned money on a game of Blackjack, Poker, or slot machines. They seemed to enjoy every moment of it, even when they lost. From every corner of the graceful room, many various sounds were heard. This was typical Las Vegas – a city known for its gambling.

    Adeline came to the casino. It was about time to meet with her father, but she didn’t exactly know where. Looking around the place, trying to find the one person, her soul was shaking. Was she excited, was she scared? The feelings inside here were mixed, and it caused her a stomach ache. A hard sigh came from her throat. Once again, everything changed. She left Tony in his mansion, just to meet with her family, and she felt bad for it. They were supposed to create a plan to stop Goth. They had a fight because of it. He made her feel like a traitor. Adeline lowered her head and closed her eyes. Why was she feeling so bad? What changed inside her? It was just some Stark, that’s it. What made her look at him a little bit differently?

    “Go to the restaurant, and say you have a reservation for your last name,” a male voice said next to her, which made her open the green eyes, and focus on that command. She recognized him, but when she wanted to look at the person, he was already gone. Before she made a move to the restaurant, she combed her long brown straight hair with fingers. Just in case, she took some formal clothing.

    Walking slowly, the woman came to the main entrance of the restaurant. An usher was standing next to the door, looking directly at her. “Hi, um, I have a reservation here on a name Montana?” it was a rhetorical question. The man in a fancy tux gave the brunette a nod and showed her to follow him.

    The seat she received was situated under a fancy painting of a beautiful country. It was a table for two people, but she came there all alone. “Thank you,” she said with a little smile on her lips when she sat down and ordered a glass of water. Once again, she checked the place, looking for her father, but unsuccessfully.

    Subsequently, when her water was standing in front of her, she heard a rattle noise behind her back. Someone sat behind her and ordered the same. She recognized that voice. “We have to be like this,” her father said quietly. “Don’t turn to me.”

    She did as she was told. “What is going on? Can you give me any explanation?”

    “Not until you tell me what’s bothering your heart, child.”

    Adeline took the menu and pretended to read it. “I need to know everything about you and Peter,” she took a deep breath. “Why did you put Tony Stark into this? I somehow don’t understand this whole situation you put me, well us, into.” She took a sip of water.

     “I had to,” he said calmly, not adding anything else.

    She frowned. “That’s it? I had to. What’s that supposed to mean? Okay, I think I deserve much more than this. Why…” she closed her eyes and let the words fly out of the mouth. “Why do I have a feeling, you are lying to me, or that you have secrets from me?”

    “Because then you will be in danger, and everything would change,” his voice raised up a little, sounding more nervous.

    Adeline didn’t get it. “What would change? I am not ten years old. I can take care of myself. You have to tell me!” she angrily put down the papers with a menu, and sighed. “Dad, it’s me – the girl who you forced to do martial arts, take shooting lessons. You all did it for a reason, to protect me, and not use…” she immediately remained quiet, not saying anything about her ability. “You have to tell me.”

    There was a long pause, silence so intense she thought it would kill her. “I don’t know where to start.”

    “How about, why did you put Stark into this?” she directed him the way she wanted.

    Two waiters interrupted their conversation. They came to take the orders from the guests. When the two of them separately ordered, they left them once again alone. “It was a coincidence. I didn’t mean to, but it happened. I just needed to tell a name, to have more time to hide the rest of our family.”

    “And that’s why you had to tell Peter that Tony has some stupid cure?” she rolled her green eyes.

    “Is it me or are you defending him?”

    “I’m not defending him,” she growled. “But now, I have to deal with him, if you wish to know. We are trying to kill Goth. Your, and I mean yours and Peter’s, skirmish brought us together.”

    “Are you working with him?” he sounded surprised. “Are you using…?” he didn’t finish the sentence, but it sounded shocked. “I told you, Adel, you cannot use it, no matter what is happening.”

    “And I am not a child, father. I can do whatever I want to do, and you can’t stop me.” Adeline was irritated by this conversation. She wanted to meet him for a serious conversation, and not for squabbling. “This whole thing is happening because of you, Goth, and some idiotic cure, or what the hell is it! And because of this fucking thing, Goth is destroying LA. He’s strong, crazy, and he obviously loves fire and explosions. Oh, did I mention that he killed my two closest friends?!”

    “I didn’t mean to…”

    “But it all happened, and there is no way of taking that back. My friends are dead, we are dealing with Goth, and we can’t defeat him. You have to tell me everything. Where is that cure, why does he need it? What the hell is going on between you two?”

    Martin, her dad, was quiet. He put aside everything and slowly turned to the young woman, and put his hand on her shoulder. “I just hope you won’t get mad at me,” he sighed timidly. “My past was very dark, my dear. Yes, I was, and still, am a scientist. I created many things, but I also created a unique serum of all times. I call it the cure.” His lower lip was shaking, and he had a problem with the speech. “This cure can modify human’s DNA and change it. That is why Peter wants it. He wants to misuse it.”

    “So, where is this cure? We can protect it or hide it.”

    “The cure does not exist anymore. I, um…”

    “Dad?” Adeline finally turned to him and saw tears in his eyes. She instinctively grabbed his hand and squeezed it.

    “Oh, my dear, I am so sorry,” he dryly swallowed. “I told you, you are special, with your abilities, but… It was that cure.”

    Adeline’s eyebrows went up. She didn’t get it. “What?”

    “You have the cure in your veins, Adeline. Please, let me explain it,” he stopped her before she could say something to him. “It all happened when you were a baby. You were four months old when it happened. Peter came to our place and wanted to know everything about my newest project. When we were younger, we had a dream to create something that will change the human’s DNA, and it can gain some powers, interesting abilities. While my intentions were pure, he was already creating an evil plan in his mind. My project was finished, when you were born, and that’s when it all started. He wanted it, he needed it, and we had so many quarrels about it. He was getting insane. The day I gave you the cure, he wanted to hurt me and your mother. Peter was threatening to me that he will kidnap you, and train you to become an assassin. But I did everything that I could to protect my family.”

    The woman couldn’t believe her ears. She was constantly shaking her head, not accepting the whole truth. “You lied to me.”

    “I know, but I was just protecting you.”

    “By lying? Why didn’t you tell me when I was a child? I was kind of a stupid girl back then. Maybe I wouldn’t understand, but at least you wouldn’t lie to me.”

    “No, you wouldn’t understand. I know, I shouldn’t lie to you, but it was the only normal option.”

    “Normal option? Do you now realize, everything is happening because of me? And it’s all because I have this thing in my veins.” This was the moment when she angrily stood up, took her purse, and quickly fixed her blazer. “Oh, by the way, you too did create an assassin. You forced me to do martial arts; I even had to take shooting lessons. You wanted to create a living weapon. Well, congratulations, you did it.”

    “Have you ever killed someone?” his eyes were wide open, looking directly at his daughter.

    Adeline took a deep painful breath. “I did. Accidentally.” She couldn’t look at him anymore. “I have to go, and think about everything.” She didn’t say goodbye to him. After she took her purse, Adeline stormed out of the restaurant, hastily running outside for some fresh air. She left her father alone there, not giving him a chance to continue with his explanation.

    When she was finally in front of the building, she found a bench and straight away sat down on it. Her palms covered her face, the eyes were already closed, and the soul inside her was shaking. Way too much information in one day – she was the cure, that’s why she had those abilities. This war was happening indirectly because of her. Goth didn’t know about it. Nobody knew about it. He thought the cure was in Stark’s hand. In some way, it was. But it was just a matter of time when he’ll discover it out.

    “Way too many things are happening,” she mumbled into her hands. “Why do I have to live this life?”

    A phone rang in her pocket. At least something distracted her for a moment. Adeline took it from the blazer and checked the display. **HEY, ARE YOU ALIVE? WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU? ARE YOU HURT? PLEASE CALL ME!**   It was Dan. Adeline didn’t speak to him ever since the incident happened. He thought she was hurt, or maybe dead. She totally forgot to write and inform him about her condition.

**I’M ALIVE. I CAN’T TALK TO YOU. WHAT DO YOU WANT?** Adeline wasn’t in the mood for a call. She didn’t even want to see him or speak to him. Everything was changing, and it meant she couldn’t see him anymore.

    **SUNDAY – FUNERAL, I HOPE I’LL SEE YOU THERE. I WAS SO WORRIED ABOUT YOU. THERE ARE MANY THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW.** Dan wrote back. However, Adeline didn’t reply to it. She had tears in her eyes, her heart cracked, and the only thing she felt at the moment was a pain. Pain from everywhere – her father was lying to her; another close friend was dead like she was suddenly all alone in this world.

     But she wasn’t. There was a person who needed her help. Shoveling the phone in the hands, she made her decision and called the person whom she didn’t like for a very long time. Things changed, and she thought of him a lot, which made her confused sometimes. Adeline put the phone to her ear and waited for him to answer the phone.

   _-Ah, isn’t it the greatest Guardian_ ,- said Tony from the other side of the line with a sarcastic voice. It made Adeline smile a little. – _Did you miss me?-_

    “Hey, um, can I come to your place tomorrow? I have some new information for you,” she sighed. Her eyes were scanning the place around her, looking at the normal people, who were having a great time. The sun was shining, it was a hot sunny day, but Adeline could feel the darkness and cold spreading around her. “Call your friend, I won’t run away.”

_-Well you better, Adeline. I’ll send you my driver, Happy. We’ll meet at ten in my place.-_

    “Great. Bye,” and she promptly ended the call.  


	9. Chapter nine – The inconspicuous chemistry

**Chapter nine – The inconspicuous chemistry**

                Like Tony promised, he sent a driver for Adeline. His name was Happy, and he was very nice to her – a true gentleman. They had a pleasant conversation while he drove them to Tony’s mansion. “How did you two met?” Happy asked her, still focusing on the road. “Tony never had a woman in his house during a white day. You must be pretty special,” he continued.

    The brunette giggled, and her face stayed in a grimace. “Well, he visited the bar where I was working and we discovered we have so many things in common.” She wasn’t lying to him, but also, she didn’t say the whole truth. “Just to be clear, there is nothing going on between me and Stark. Oh no. We are only working on a very interesting project.”

    The journey had passed quite quickly thanks to a small chat with the driver. When they were finally in front of the huge white mansion, Happy opened the door for her. Adeline gave him a wide smile and squeezed her bigger leather purse in her hand. “This way,” said the man in a black suit, and was the first who went inside, holding the door for the woman. He did check her while he had the opportunity. She was very attractive, had long, straight brown hair, and she was a little shorter than Tony.

    This was the first time Adeline saw the interior of the house. It was overflowing with luxury furniture; the ocean view was breath-taking, and it was just the first floor. She saw a black piano, a massive couch for at least ten people. The whole place was very big, which was good for parties. She sighed, and smiled a little. “Oh yeah, being rich is not a bad thing,” she said to herself. “By the way, where is Stark?”

    “I don’t know. Ask JARVIS,” Happy replied, and stayed by her side the whole time.

    “Um, are you waiting for something? Should I give you a tip?” she panicked. “I don’t have money with me!”

    He started to laugh. “Oh, no, don’t worry. I’m waiting for Tony’s girl to come down, so I can take her back where she belongs.” Adeline was looking at him with big confused eyes. Tony has a girlfriend? It was very unbelievable. This was the moment when she felt an indescribable feeling inside her. Was it another crack? Her eyebrows immediately went up. “I call all his one night stands like this. It’s easier and not rude,” he laughed.

    And when he stopped laughing, they both saw a young woman, slowly strolling down the stairs, holding a pair of pumps in her right hand. She had a messed up sex hair and her face revealed a very rough night. She was very pretty despite the fact she looked terrible. This was Tony’s type – long curly blond hair, sexy body, slutty clothes. Adeline’s eyes met with hers. The girl had dark blue eyes and was much younger than Adeline. She could be over twenty. The age difference was enormous. Tony was about forty, and this girl was almost twenty years younger than him. The brunette was a little disgusted.

    “Where’s Tony?” the girl asked both of them, and crossed her arms over her breasts. “And who are you?” she moved her head towards Adeline.

    “That’s none of your business,” the brunette hissed at her with a wide smile on her face.

    “Miss, I’m here to take you home,” Happy jumped into their conversation.

    “Where’s Tony?” she said it slowly, and annoyingly. “I have to say good-bye to him.”

_~Miss Montana? Mr. Stark is awaiting you,~_ said JARVIS from somewhere, which made Adeline jump a little. She was fascinated by this system, but she needed to use to it and its occasional speaking without warning.

    “Thank you, Happy, for the lift,” Adeline gave him a grateful smile. “Have a nice day, slut,” she added with a wider smile on her face and waved her hand. She was provoking the girl, sending her an evil glimpse, and her hips swayed a little when she went down the stairs to Stark’s garage.

     Through the transparent glass, Adeline could see Tony’s figure standing next to his Iron Man suit, and working on it. He was wearing track pants and a dark shirt with rolled up sleeves. She touched the handle and pulled the door. Nothing happened. She tried it one more time when she got Tony’s attention. He turned around, saw the woman, and start to laugh. “Just put your palm on the blue square next to the door,” he navigated her and pointed at the door with his index finger.

    She was confused because she didn’t find any blue square. It had shown to her after a few seconds. It was waiting for the touch of her palm. When she did it, the system scanned it, and the door opened. “How is that possible?” she asked him when the door closed behind her. “When did you do that?”

    “While you were unconscious,” Tony replied calmly, and again focused on his suit.

    “I wouldn’t be surprised if you say you raped me while I was unconscious,” the brunette said it with a funny voice, and she rolled her eyes. “Oh, by the way, I met your cute girl. How old was she, twenty?” Adeline put her purse aside, and slowly went to the man, looking directly at him. She crossed her arms on breasts when she stood next to him.

    “She wasn’t twenty, but twenty-two. Are you jealous, Adeline?” his head cocked to the right side, and he squinted his chocolate eyes. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were,” and then he turned to the brunette, staring at her face with a smirk. “You can be the one in my bed tonight.”

    “Oh my god, stop with the sex offers,” she punched him in the shoulder.

    “Adeline, just admit the sex was good, and deep down, deep deep down you would like to have another round,” he smiled at her, slowly licking his lower lip. She noticed it, and it made her lips and soul shiver. Tony was waiting for an answer. He even took a step closer to her.

    “Fine, the sex was good – more than good. Are you happy now?” her eyes blinked a few times, and slowly walked away from him, heading to the office chair. “Do you want to discuss our one stupid night together or about the little slut whom just left your place, or about the serious things that are happening?”

    “Oh, I would like to talk about that one night, but seriously Adeline, are you jealous? Does it bother you that I had a very interesting night with that young girl?” his eyebrows raised up. “I wish I could remember her name.”

     She finally sat on the chair and crossed her legs. “There we go! You don’t even remember her name. This is shocking,” Adeline laughed at him. “Seriously Tony, I’m finally here to deal with everything, talk about our mission, but you still seem to be distracted. Hey, what about the War Machine? Is he coming?”

    “Yes, he’s going to be here any minute,” he nodded.

    “I know why you are included in this whole thing,” Adeline immediately changed the subject. “I talked to my father, and, um…” she couldn’t find the right words. “This is going to be very shocking, so please don’t start to yell at me, because I am innocent,” her hands went up.

    Tony sat opposite her on another of his office chairs, and he squinted his eyes. “I’m listening,” he said carefully.

    “You were supposed to be a distraction for my father, but without any certain reason. He just thought of you and it all happened because of it. Everybody knows you, Tony, and that’s why your name was the one my father chose. He told me it was a coincidence.”

    “This is just great,” he sighed angrily.

    “Maybe you are angry now, but just listen to this. I know what is the cure and where it is,” she bit her lower lip; her hands were shaking a little and became nervous. “The cure is a creation of my father. It can change people’s DNA, and they can gain some special abilities. That is why Goth wants it. My father said, his intentions were pure, but Goth’s were evil,” she explained. “If he gets it, he will use it, and then there will be consequences.”

    “Wow, your father is a smart guy,” Tony was impressed. “And where is it?”

    Adeline opened her mouth, she was looking into Tony’s eyes, but she didn’t say a word. An unknown sound came from her throat. Her shoulders made a move, the face changed a little, as it was saying sorry. Tony’s expression gave her a clue, he already knew the answer. However, she said it out loud, just in case. “I- I am the cure, Tony. I have it in my veins.”

     A massive silence was between them. Tony gulped, his eyes were focusing on her, and the chocolate eyes from time to time blinked. “Okay, this changes a lot,” he cleared his throat. “So he was feeding you with lies. But when I think about it… Yeah, now it all makes sense. Okay, um,” he quickly stood up. “Goth doesn’t know, right?” Adeline nodded.

    “Hey, Tony,” Adeline jumped from the chair and went to him. She put her right hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to deal with it if you don’t want to. It is all because of me. When Goth will find out, he’ll do everything just to kidnap me. Maybe then…”

    “No! The plan is set up. No changes, Adeline. He destroyed some parts of L.A. This is not about you and the cure anymore.”

    “Oh wow,” she was impressed. “You are using my words, Tony,” she gave him a smirk.    

    “Not a good time for mocking,” he warned her.

    “It is always a good time for a little fun,” Adeline smiled like an angel. “And besides, you used to do the same thing as I did now,” her eyes seductively blinked.

    “Adeline,” he made a step closer to the woman. His voice changed – it was a warning signal.

    “Tony?” she was now brightly smiling at him, biting her lower lip.

    “What the hell are you doing?” his eyebrows went up and crossed his arms on the chest. “Are you flirting with me? Would you like to go upstairs, and have a nice time together?” 

    “Okay, back to being serious. My bad,” Adeline cleared her throat, but she remained in the same position – standing very closely opposite to Tony. She could smell his expensive perfume, and she liked it. That man knew how to get all the ladies. He was still looking into her green eyes, not backing away. “Okay, now you should stop with that,” she pointed at his face.

    How quickly the atmosphere changed, and also the subject they were talking about. “Oh, so now it’s bothering you? You were the one who started this.”

    “No, I…”

    “Now, you are lying, Adeline,” he smirked.

    “I’m not lying, I just wanted to…”

    “… - have sex with me, I know,” he laughed.

    “Am I interrupting something?” a third person entered their conversation. Adeline slowly turned her head to see the new person in the garage - a taller man, with dark chocolate skin, wearing jeans, and a green t-shirt. His face was neutral, and he was looking directly at the two people, standing near each other. “I know you,” he said with a smile on his face while his voice remained calm. “You are the waitress from the Movies’,” he took some steps closer to them.

    Tony broke the space between him and Adeline and went to greet his best friend. “Hey, Rhodey, I’m glad you came,” he smiled a little, and the friends shook their hands. “This is Adeline,” he introduced the woman to him.

    “James Rhodes,” he said with a serious face. When she came closer to him, James took her hand and gave a light kiss on the back of it. “It’s a pleasure to meet you once again.”

    “Oh, such a gentleman,” Adeline winked at him. “You should start to learn from him, Stark.”

     “Okay, so to finish our topic…”

    “Tony, no!” she brushed it off the table. “It is not going to happen. And why do we have to talk about it, when we have other plans to do, and your friend is here,” she pointed at James.

    “What? What is going on?” the man was confused.

    “I slept with her,” said Tony.

    “But it happened only one time,” Adeline added and crossed her hands on the breasts. “And it is not going to happen again,” she gave Tony a grimace. “Can we please focus on the more unpleasant things? The situation is way more complicated than we thought.”

    “But we are now focusing on the more pleasant things,” Tony was opposing her. In a second, she hardly slapped his shoulder and gave him an evil glare. “Okay, fine, woman, you are really mean to me,” and he laughed.

    “Is this conversation typical between the two of you?” Rhodey asked Adeline with a little grin on his face.

    “This is nothing, believe me” she gave him a wink with one eye, and ambled to the table next to her right. She saw there a photograph of a man and a child, standing behind a motorcycle. Her green eyes scanned every detail of the picture, checking their expressions, thinking when this photo was taken. She even took it, and her thumbs slightly stroked the brownish frames. In the picture, there was Tony probably with his father. Neither of them was smiling, and it all acted negatively. Adeline sighed. “Okay, I don’t know if you heard, but I am very different,” she cleared her throat and put the picture back in its place.

    “Yeah, Tony mentioned something, so, once again, what are you?” Rhodey took a seat on a free office chair, and he made himself more comfortable.

    “What did he say to you?” the brunette was curious. However, Rhodey didn’t reply. “Tony!” she yelled at the man with a goatee. “What did you say to him?!”

    “That a hot woman can do very interesting things, and is really good in bed,” he widely smiled at her. “And that we have a problem with the flame-boy, and this magical cure has a big role in it.”

    She slapped her forehead. “Even though you gave me a compliment, I am not amused. Okay, the thing is,” Adeline turned to the man. “I can create a shield, which can protect me, and some people, and also I am intelligent. Maybe much more intelligent than Tony,” she smirked. “And yes, the cure has a big role in it. Unfortunately, I just discovered that I am the cure.”

    “So you are the Guardian!” James recognized her. “I saw some records of you. You are pretty unique,” he smiled at her. Adeline cocked her head to the right side and returned the smile. “Now, another question is: what are we dealing with?”

    “That, my friend, is a very interesting question,” Tony stepped forward and made a move with his hands. A giant hologram showed in the middle of the room, right in front of them. It was showing them pictures, numbers, and it was mostly of the color blue. Adeline’s eyes were glowing. This was the coolest thing she has ever seen. An unidentified sound came from her throat. Her right hand reached for it. “This is like second Christmas for you,” he stated.

    “This is amazing,” she said breathlessly. “I’ve never seen something like this. I might now how to create holograms, but I never had the money for it, and the time. Is JARVIS running it?”

    “Yes,” he agreed. “So, Rhodey, JARVIS will explain you everything and he’ll show you important files. You,” he pointed at Adeline, “should get dressed into something more comfortable, because we’ll do some training. I’d like to know your fighting skills, and then have a look on the shield. You can change here if you want.”

    “Tony!” she was annoyed by his behavior.

    …

    “Are you sure you want to do this?”

    “Oh please, you won’t hurt me,” he gave her a wide mocking smile. Tony was standing opposite to Adeline, his hands were on his sides, and waited for her first move. They wanted to fight against each other, increase their fighting skills because it was a part of their training. For a couple of hours, they did some cardio exercises, punched a boxing moss, and even trained with Happy, who joined them after he drove home that young girl. James was still learning about Goth, and processing new information. There were a lot of things, which he needed to know.

    The brunette took a deep breath. Her eyes were darker, focusing on the man’s body. Every muscle in her was prepared for a training fight. Will she be able to not use her shield? “I have better fighting skills, Tony. I was trained in many ways. I’m not going to spare you.”

    “I don’t want you to spare me. Pain is a part of our life. We have to learn how to deal with it. Now come on, and hit me,” he prompted her, giving her that grin she hated and loved at the same time. Tony was a very unusual man. He was intelligent - he could create interesting innovations, suits which could fly. His behavior was complicated, full of sarcasm, and inappropriate jokes. But all these things made him special, and Adeline started to like it more and more. “Oh, come on sweetheart, just punch me,” he started to tease her with words. “Or are you scared?”

    Her evil glare was the answer for him. Without warning, the woman made a quick move towards him and attacked Tony with a kick of her right leg. It was a high kick, aiming at his head. He wanted it, and so he had it. Luckily, Tony blocked the kick, and tried to hit the woman with his fists, but she grabbed his fist, made a turn, and hit him right in the ribs, making him fall on his knees. Another move caused a strong punch into his head. She accidentally injured his right eyebrow. A blood started to slowly flow down his face. He remained on the floor in the middle of the boxing ring, suddenly sitting on his bum.

    “Argh!” he sighed of pain.

    “I’m sorry!” Adeline was immediately on her knees, looking at the wound. “It’s going to be fine, just a little scratch.” The man wanted to protest, but she stopped him, before letting out a single vowel. “Just sit here, will you? I’ll bring the medicine chest.”

    Tony was silent the whole time. He was pressing two fingers on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. His eyes were checking her every move. The way she walked, the way she looked in the sports clothes – that woman was attractive as hell. A silent groan came out his throat. When Adeline came back to him, he was focusing on her face. She sat next to him, looking for some disinfection medicine. She found something. “Okay, this may sting a little,” the brunette warned him. She splashed some of the soaking dilutions on the wound. He started to hiss a little. “Oh, don’t be like a little girl,” she laughed.

    “I think I should cause you a wound on your head, and then we’ll see,” he made a grimace, which made the woman laugh a little. He felt something soft on the forehead. Adeline was very close to him, wiping out the blood from the wound, and his skin. Tony could feel her breath on his face. That was weird, he thought. He dryly gulped while his eyes focused on the green orbs of hers. He never realized how pretty she was. Being this close to her, he shivering feeling dominated his body. In a second later, her eyes met his. There was this indescribable connection between them. Their faces were very close. They remained quiet.

    “Hey Tony,” a voice coming from the hallway interrupted them. Rhodey came to the training room with a mobile in his hands, looking at it. Adeline continued with cleaning the wound, Tony’s eyes went from the woman to his friend. When the man saw them sitting next to each other, his face changed. “What happened?”

    “I punched him,” she laughed.

    “And I’m bleeding, now,” Tony added. “I let her win.”

    “That’s a lie,” she murmured.

    “Technically, it is not.”

    “Can you just shut up, so I can continue with the first aid,” the brunette nudged him into his left shoulder. “Now hold still, will you?”

    “I just wanted to know, if you installed the new system into my suit?” Rhodey came closer to them, and leaned against one boxing moss, checking the two of them sitting on the floor.

    When Tony wanted to make a move with his head, Adeline put it back where it was before, and made an unpleasant sound. “What are you doing there, woman? This is not a surgery,” he hissed again. “Um, and you, Rhodes, everything is ready.” Suddenly, he was released from the torture. When he looked at her, she was giggling, and cleaning the mess they made.

     “Good boy! Now you deserve a lollipop,” she made fun of him and stood up.

    “I think you need the lollipop,” he gave Adeline a seductive glance which made her gorgeous green eyes roll.

    “Oh wow,” Rhodes was impressed. “You two belong to each other. How can you stand him, Adeline?”

    “I’m the same,” she waved her hand and put the aid kit back in its place. “Well, not all the time like him,” she pointed at Stark.

    “That was rude,” he responded and stood up. “What about you, Rhodes? Would you like to practice your fighting skills?”

    “I think I’ll pass for today. Maybe tomorrow,” he stepped back. “It’s a pity I missed the fight. Finally, a girl who kicked Tony’s ass,” he was amused.

    “Ha-ha! Veni, Vidi, Vici,” she quoted Julius Caesar and evilly laughed.


	10. Chapter ten – I lied to you

**Chapter ten – I lied to you**

                     The friendship between Tony and Adeline grew every day. They were training together, learning new fighting skills, discussing many ways how to defeat Goth and how her shield exactly worked. They didn’t discover anything interesting. Her abilities remained the same and the only thing she could do was to create it around her. Tony tried to solve how she could expand the ability. The only answer he got was _more training_.

    James, from time to time, spent the time with them, trying to learn something new, useful and also wanted to get to know the young attractive woman. Unfortunately, he didn’t have that much time for them. He was needed in the military base, where he worked. When he did visit Tony’s mansion, he and Adeline would train together. She was skilled; she knew how to fight and taught both of them, new moves and fighting technique.

    “Can you work with a gun?” James asked her when they had a day off of fighting. “I can teach you…”

    “I took lessons,” Adeline gave him a simple smile while she was looking at a hologram filled with interesting information. Her finger touched the blue screen and opened a new file. “You seem to be surprised,” her green eyes were looking at him. “I’m not an ordinary girl,” she giggled. “That is a very long story.” While they were having this pretty much normal conversation, Tony was checking them from afar. He was working on his suit such as adding the newest lasers.

     Every time his best friend came to work with them, Adeline was mostly talking to him, ignoring Tony almost the whole time. Was he jealous? Tony Stark is never jealous. If he can’t have her, he can have any other girl. However, Adeline wasn’t like the other women. He sighed and continued with his work…

    Adeline was surprised when Tony supported her on the day of the funeral. He even took her from the cemetery and they went to his place, where they continued with the work and cheered her up. They listened to Tony’s favorite music. He was surprised when he heard her singing the lyrics from one of the songs.

     Back on the funeral, Dan, Adeline’s friend, wasn’t very pleased when he saw Tony waiting for the brunette. “Why can’t we see each other, Ad?”

    “Because I have other important plans to do, sorry,” those were the last words he heard from her. Adeline had to cut him from her life. He was in danger like the girls were. They paid for it with their lives. The woman gave him the last soft smile, fixed the big black sunglasses on her nose, and walked away from the taller man.

    From that moment, everything seemed to be fine. There was no sign of Goth, nobody died for a very long time, and Adeline felt more comfortable in Tony’s presence. They had a laugh, they talked, even had pizza nights together. It felt right like they knew each other for a very long time. All the negative thoughts about that man disappeared away and the new feelings came unexpectedly. Sometimes, she caught herself looking at him differently while he was talking about the newest weapons installed in the Iron Man suit.

    Everything was great, until a day without seeing Tony, training and preparing for their mission.

    The first three days were fine. Adeline cleaned her apartment, solved the contract with the bar she worked in and officially quit. It was destroyed by Goth, so why work there when there’s no bar? Also, she did her own training. Every day Tony didn’t call, she made an excuse for him in her head. He was running a big company – maybe he had meetings, or he had to unexpectedly travel abroad. But as the time went by, she was sick of it. For over two weeks nothing happened. Tony didn’t call or return the call.

    She tried it one more time. Adeline put the device to her ear, leaned against the doorframe of the balcony, and waited for Tony to pick up the call. After several long, annoying beeps, there was a voice mail.

    “Fuck,” she whispered grumpily. What if something happened? That was impossible. The city looked peaceful, not a thing was happening at the moment. What could change?

    Without any hesitation, she called herself a taxi, put on some skinny jeans of blue color and a tight purple top – the first pieces of clothing she found in her closet. There was no time for high heels. Instead, she chose regular black shoes. Her long brown hair was in a ponytail and before she left her little apartment she grabbed her black purse with the most important things as keys, wallet and mobile and - for an emergency situation – the mask.

    The car was waiting for her outside the building. Adeline tried to call Tony one more time but once again, there was a voice mail. She was annoyed by this. Was he avoiding her for some reason? She thought they were friends, very good friends. Her opinion changed and she even found him attractive – even more than before. Why was she thinking about him like this? There were many questions in her head and it all made her nervous and confused at the same time. When she got into the car and said the address, the driver didn’t say anything but his face told everything. She saw it in the reflection of the back mirror. “Just drive,” she said angrily.

    For two weeks, everything seemed to be fine. Then after two weeks, another two came where he was ignoring her. Maybe he didn’t even want to be a friend – fine! At least they could be work buddies and nothing more. When the war is over they would say good-bye and she will leave from his life. Adeline made herself comfortable in the back of the taxi and rolled her eyes. The whole time she was looking outside of the window, scanning the surroundings with her green eyes and thinking about him. Did it really make her that upset?

    After almost thirty minutes, the car stopped near Tony’s mansion. She paid for the ride, left the car and looked at the big entrance gate. When the taxi left away, she took a step closer to the entrance. On the left side, there was a screen of color blue. “Eh, JARVIS?” she cleared her throat.

_~ Good day, Miss Montana. Should I inform Mr. Stark your appearance? ~_

    “Oh, yes, please,” she said pretty much angrily. “May I enter?”

   _~ Of course, Miss Montana. You are on the list of important people who have the access to Mr. Stark’s mansion,_ ~ and the entrance gate opened for her.

     Until she came to the front door, she was preparing her speech. What should she say to him? Show him how really mad she was or just act normal like nothing happened? Adeline was pissed off. There was no way she would treat him nicely. The fresh air from the beach cleaned her head a little bit. She could feel the salty ocean and sandy beach in her nose. In other situation, it would have calmed her down. However, the rage didn’t leave her at all.

     After several minutes of walking, she finally got to the front door. Without any hesitation, Adeline went inside like an angry tiger. Her green orbs sparkled with fury. When she scanned the glorious sizable living room, she found only a piece of clothing thrown on the floor. It looked like Tony’s black blazer. He was inside, so was he in the garage?

    Adeline was just about to scream his name when a sweet giggling noise came from the stairs. And in a second later, another giggling was heard, but this one was slightly different. Subsequently, a male’s voice was heard. The brunette turned to the stairs and there she saw Tony with two women with bright smiles on their faces. He was whispering nonsense into their ears.

    Adeline crossed her arms over the breasts, and she loudly cleared her throat just to catch their attention. Tony looked at her. “Adeline!” is sounded surprised. “What are you doing here?”

    “What am I doing here?” she shook her head. It was unbelievable. “Well, since you weren’t answering my calls, I came to check you out,” she said it normally, without any hesitation in her voice. “But as I can see you are doing just fine, more than fine.”

    “Who’s that?” asked one of the women. She was slightly taller than Tony; she had short black hair and deep brown eyes. Her hand was on his shoulder, slowly stroking it. “Is that your girlfriend?” she tried to mock both of them.

    “She’s not my girlfriend,” Tony replied seriously.

    “I can’t believe this!” the brunette was mad at him. “We have work to do and as I can see, being with some hookers is a better thing to do than actually working on our plan and… ” she didn’t finish her sentence. “Why do I even bother,” she mumbled under her nose.

    “Hey, boss,” another male voice was heard from the living room. Happy interrupted their conversation by his presence. As usual, he was wearing a black suit and dark sunglasses. His face was serious. “Hi, Adeline,” he smiled at the brunette.

    “Hi,” she replied with a lower voice. The green eyes were silently looking what was happening. Both of the girls gave Tony a sweet kiss on his cheeks and said goodbye. It was fake like their fake boobs. Adeline was annoyed by them. She was standing at the same place; her glance was evil and unpleasant. And when they passed by her, one of them looked into her green orbs.

    “Bye-bye, Tony’s friend,” she laughed a little.

    “One more word and I’ll knock you to the ground,” the brunette warned her and squinted her eyes.

    When they were finally alone, she looked at Tony. “What’s with you, Adeline? Nothing bad happened,” he rolled his gorgeous chocolate eyes. He was wearing a black undershirt and his arc reactor was glowing from under it. “Why so grumpy?”

    “Are you fucking kidding me, Stark?” she was frowning. “You were ignoring me for two weeks! And now you ask me why am I grumpy? You can’t be serious.  First, I thought, okay, maybe he has some work to do but after two weeks of ignoring my calls…”

    “So what? I had some work to do and then I wanted to relax a little bit.”

    “Oh yeah, sleeping with some underaged hookers is the best way to relax,” she said sarcastically. “I’d rather fuck some young girls than work on something very important – is that what you thought?” she shook her head. “I can’t believe you! Everybody is in danger, and you just don’t give a fuck!”

    “Why don’t you look at yourself, little miss special,” his voice was higher and angrier. “If it wasn’t for your father, nothing would have happened. You put me into this. It is only your fault.”

    She couldn’t believe her ears. “Oh, so now it is a problem!? Suddenly, all this is my fault. It is my fault Goth attacked L.A. several times. It is my fault that my friends died. It is my fault that you are in this too. It is my fault that I have the cure in my veins. Yeah, everything is my fault!” she wasn’t controlling herself anymore and she was yelling at him.

    “Yeah, it is your fault, Adeline. All of this is happening because of you! Do you realize that?”

    “I do realize that some things happened because of me. I do!”

    “Oh, I’m so sorry you poor innocent thing. Did I hurt your feelings?”

     She made a quick step forward to him. If she had a knife, she would instantly put it on his throat. “What is the matter with you, Tony? What changed? You said we are in this together that it is not about me anymore.”

    “Yeah, I lied.”

    “What?!” that shocked her. “You lied?”

    “Yeah! It is a new thing that kids use these days,” he said ironically.

    That was it. That was the last drop. “I thought,” she gulped dryly; “we were friends. We trained together, we had a great time. I suppose I was wrong. We are not friends and those nights we spent talking, eating pizza was probably a lie – like you said.” Adeline’s voice was sad and there were tears in her eyes. “When the war is over, don’t worry, you’ll never see me again,” she sighed.

    “Oh my fucking god, Adeline…”

    “Stop! You don’t have to bother anymore,” her hand was up as a sign of no talking. “I think it is too late for any other words.”

_~ Sir, you have a telephone from James Rhodes, ~_ said JARVIS unexpectedly.

    Both of them were looking into each other’s eyes. Adeline was breathing deeply; her chest was boldly lifting up. Her fists were clenched because she was extremely mad at him. How could he say that? A few weeks ago, it wasn’t a problem and now it was?

_~ Sir, the telephone, ~_ JARVIS reminded him.

    “In a minute,” Tony replied calmly.

    “No, go and take your call. I’ll let myself out,” Adeline said with a sad, disappointed voice. Right in that moment, she turned around on her heel and as fast as she could, she left his mansion. That was it – this fight was over and so was their friendship or what was it. She felt broken, humiliated and empty. It was even worse because she felt something to him. However, only the rage to him remained in her soul.

    When the fresh salty air hit her nose once again she knew it wouldn’t clear her mind and calm her down. What happened did. Tony made his decision. Obviously, she wasn’t his friend and everything was a lie. She can finish this whole thing alone. But was she strong enough?

_I lied! It is a new thing that kids use these days._

    Walking down the sidewalk, trying to get away from his house, she called a taxi service. Before she could even dial the number, a car coming opposite her stopped. “Adeline?” The brunette looked into the window and saw there Tony’s best friend. “Where are you going?”

    “Home,” she hissed.

    “Hey, whoa,” he tried to stop her. The car’s engine stopped working and he stepped out from the car. “What happened? You seem to be really pissed off.”

    “And I am really pissed off! He,” she pointed the way Tony’s mansion was. “He’s an idiot. He was lying to me the whole time. He blamed me for everything. I can’t believe I spent that much time with him for nothing!”

    “Wait, did you two have a fight?” he was shocked.

    The brunette threw her hands into the air. “He was avoiding me for two weeks; he didn’t even call me back when I called him. And when I came there,” she was looking at the big luxury house, “he had there two young girls probably for a one-night stand.” At the end of her short monolog, she rubbed her nape.

    Rhodey was standing opposite her and watching her sad face. “I think I’ll kill him very soon,” he rolled his dark eyes. “Hey, do you want a lift home? And don’t worry, you are not bothering me or anything,” he gave her a small smile.

    Adeline nodded. “Okay, thank you, James,” and suddenly the smile was back on her lips.

    Until she got home, they talked about what exactly happened back in the mansion. Adeline explained to him why she was mad at Tony but she didn’t say anything about some feelings he had for the billionaire. Why was he acting like dingus? “Fuck him; I don’t have nerves and time for his shit. If he really thinks it is just my fault – be it.”

    “I’ll talk to him, okay? A few days ago, everything seemed to be fine. I have no idea what got into him,” Rhodey sighed and turn right where he connected to the main road in the city. “He didn’t call you? Anything? I knew he had some work to do in the Stark Industries. Uh,” he was thinking.

    “Never mind. Hey, if you need anything, you have my number, call me. And thank you for the lift.”

    …

    Everything was at the freezing point. Tony and Adeline weren’t speaking together. He didn’t call her, there were no more training. The friendship ended very quickly. What else she could expect from that snotty playboy? For days she remained in her bed, watching her favorite TV series on the Internet and looked for a new job. Sooner or later she will need one because her bank account was almost empty. Maybe she could live without a job for a month or two, not more.

     One night she was in her bed lying after a hard day in the gym. She was looking at any kind of information about Goth. She didn’t find anything. Like that guy suddenly never existed. Did they injure him that much?  Was it that fatal, he died? Something wasn’t right. Over a month, nothing bad happened.

    Adeline opened the new browser window and checked new interesting information. And there he was – Tony’s name as the headline of the news. Even his picture in a tuxedo was there. She read:

**STARK’S ANNUAL GALA THIS FRIDAY!**

    “What?” she mumbled under her nose. “Tony’s having a gala?” and she continued with reading.

_~ Third annual gala us being set up this Friday. A lot of famous people are attending this event and as usual, Tony Stark will be there too… After the several attacks, this Gala will be rigidly guarded by police... ~_

    He didn’t even tell her about this event! “Oh, fuck you, you motherfucker,” she gritted her teeth. Her eyes were immediately looking at the closet. “Oh no, Adeline,” she started to talk to herself. “Don’t even think about going there.” Luckily a phone interrupted her. It was still the one from Tony. When she took it to her hands, she was immediately angry. James’ number was there. “Yes?” she answered.

_-Did he call you already?-_

    “No, he didn’t. And I’m not even expecting it. I’m done with his shit.”

    _-Hey, don’t be mad at him. It’s Tony…-_

    “I don’t give a fuck, Rhodey. Tony or not, he’s not acting like an adult. As we can see, he has no interest in calling on my mobile and talk to me. I think he already made a decision. Listen, I have got to go. I have some work to do. Bye. It was nice knowing you.”

    - _Wait!_ \- he stopped her. – _I know you are mad at him but don’t be mad at me. Listen, Adeline, this is Tony. You don’t know him that long like I do.-_

    “Don’t stick up for him,” she stopped him. “I know he’s your friend. Evidently I’m not his and he’s not mine. That is the end of the whole story. I really have to go now, Rhodey. Maybe we’ll meet somewhere. Bye,” and she ended the call.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, people! Have I mentioned I'm not an English native speaker? I think you've already noticed that thanks to my grammar mistakes. Just to remind you, this story has 16 chapters. Enjoy! Love you and thank you once again.


	11. Chapter eleven – All the glitter and lights

**Chapter eleven – All the glitter and lights**

                    Expensive champagne, talking people in the best suits and dresses, photographs in every corner of the room – this was typical Gala. A small orchestra was playing on a small stage in the main hall. The soft music of violins and flutes was spreading in the ballroom. Many people were dancing; the others were just sitting at their tables, drinking and chatting. Everything was fancy and sparkly. The whole occasion was spectacular. The waitresses and waiters were working hard, serving the food and drinks. Anyone who got the job was lucky. The salary was very high and they could meet many famous people or even the creator of this event – Tony Stark.

    Tony was wearing a black tuxedo with a black bow. His hair was combed, however, it did look messy. He was holding a glass of expensive whisky in his right hand while he was standing on the upper floor’s balcony and looking at all the dancing, happy people. Sometimes he took a sip, held the liquor for a while in his mouth and then swallowed. He was prepared if any danger was threatening. The Iron Man suit was ready in a special suitcase, which was located in a safe place. The brown eyes seemed to be tired. For over an hour he was there all alone, not talking to anyone. The best thing he could do for the last couple of days was to just drink and not think.  The quarrel between him and Adeline made him feel terrible. His ego didn’t let him call her and apologise for his behaviour. Yes, he was avoiding her because he had a reason – several reasons.

    “Well, look at you,” a voice said behind his back. “How are you, Tony?” Rhodey asked him right when the orchestra received an applause for the song. Another one immediately started after the clapping ended. “You look sad.”

    “Oh, that is just an appearance,” he gave him a smirk when the man stepped closer to his side and leant his elbows against the balcony bannister. “I’m a little bit tired. I’m working on a new, much better suit. You’ll be jealous when you’ll see it, believe me,” he took another sip. “What about you?” The whole time he had his eyes locked on the crowd of people.

    “I’m fine, did some work for the military as usual,” and then he turned to his friend. “Tony, did you call her?”

    “No.”

    “Why? Evidently you acted like a total dick. Why didn’t you call her? She could have been here with us just in case something would happen. And I do believe your mood would be much better,” he smiled a little.

    Tony changed the direction of his look and focused on his friend. His eyes were squinted. “What makes you think so?”

    “Oh, come on, Tony, admit you feel bad,” he nudged to his shoulder. “I can see the sadness in your eyes. I know you like the back of my hand. This is the first fight ever that made you really upset. Just admit it. Don’t worry; you’ll be the same man like before.”

    Tony drank the rest of the drink. “Okay, fine, I admit it, Rhodey. It sucks. I regret she isn’t here. I believe she would love this – fancy gala where women can wear beautiful dresses and expensive jewellery.  Rhodey, you can’t imagine our pizza conversations. That is why I know she would love this. Did you know she has never been to a prom?”

    “Tony?” James started to laugh. “I can see your eyes are finally sparkling again. You must really like her,” he patted his shoulder. “Why don’t you call her? I believe she would talk to you. Just don’t act like an asshole.”

    A waiter passed by them with many glasses of champagne. Both of the men took the drink and once again turned to the view to see all the dancing people. “She is a good friend,” Tony added after few seconds of silence. “She’s sweet, intelligent, sexy…”

    “Are you in love with her?”

    “No,” Tony said immediately. “I’m just saying what I see. Besides, you know I've never been in love – high school love doesn’t count,” he warned him with an index finger. “Let’s raise our glass to this nice evening, my friend,” he smiled.

    Before he could even put the glass to his lips, Tony saw something moving in the crowd - a woman with a beautiful glittery, long purple strapless dress. Her once long straight hair was combed into a curly hairstyle thrown over the right shoulder, which was specially made for this occasion. Was it really her? How did she get inside? She was making her way through the crowd like she was looking for someone. It had to be her. “Tony?” his friend was once again talking to him.

    “I have to go,” he put the glass to his friend’s hand and as quickly as he could, he went down to find the woman. James was shocked by his sudden decision. What caught his attention? When he tried to find the answer in the crowd of people, he failed. Just in case, he followed Tony to the lower level of the ballroom.

    The man with the hidden arc reactor was trying to find the woman. There were way too many people dancing. Where could she go? It was difficult to find her in the crowd. “Come on,” he murmured under his nose. The chocolate eyes were scanning the surroundings, hoping he would find her very soon. After another minute, he found her and it was definitely Adeline. She was standing near a group of ladies, pretending she was with them. “Nice try,” he laughed quietly. Tony went straight to her. His face was very serious and the way of his walk signalised confidence.

    When the green eyes met with the chocolate one, Adeline stopped smiling. There was immediately an evil glance, which he didn’t like. “How did you get inside?” that was the first thing he asked her.

    “I have my ways,” she replied ungraciously. “You don’t have to worry. I just came to check on the people, so when this thing ends, I’ll be gone,” and she tried to walk away from him. Tony didn’t let her go that easily. He grabbed her slim wrist. “Let me go, Stark.”

    “No,” he refused to let her wrist. Instead of it, Tony took her in the middle of the dancing people, pulled her body closer to his and they slowly started to sway together. He had a short opportunity to check her one more time. The dress fitted her – long, tight, purple colour, very sparkly, strapless, the neckline had the shape of a heart, and on her right leg was a long cut to the middle of her thigh. She was now as high as him because she wore silver high-heels. His eyes once again locked on hers. “You look beautiful.”

    “Is this your way of apologising to me?” her perfectly fixed eyebrows went up.

     “Come on, Adeline, I’m being serious now. Look, I know you are mad at me and you have every right to be,” he began his speech. Tony didn’t let her speak when she wanted to interrupt him. “I’m glad that you came.”

    There was a silence between them. “That’s it? Wow, that was pretty lame,” Adeline said annoyed.

    “Ad, please, stop. I’m being serious here. I am really sorry,” he said with sadness in his voice. The brown eyes were a little darker and he couldn’t move them anywhere else. He was still looking at her. “I acted like an idiot.”

    “Yes, you did,” she agreed. “I don’t know what came to your mind and why did you started to avoid me, but you could at least picked up one of my fucking calls and say something. Believe me, I would understand. Obviously, it was very difficult for you. But yeah, having sex with some twenty-year-old girls was much more important.”

    “Now seriously, were you or are you still jealous?” he had to ask.

    Adeline took a deep breath. “No,” she hesitated a little. “No, I am not. We had plans; we had to work on our mission. While I tried to create something and focused on it, you were screwing some… young girls,” she gulped the rude word. “And avoiding me without, probably, any reason? What, are we in high school?”

    “Okay, you are right. I am sorry. How can I make it up to you?”

    Her eyes were wide open and her jaw almost dropped on the floor. “Oh my god, I can’t believe you said sorry. Did it hurt?” she had a smirk on her face.    

    The orchestra changed the sound of the music once again. A new song was heard in the ballroom – it was slower, sweeter and more intimate. Tony’s grip on her waist was stronger. Their bodies were even closer and both of them could feel each other’s breath on faces. “Ad, I’m being very serious now. How can I make it up to you? How about you, me and the bed tonight?” he teased her.

    The brunette had to roll her eyes. “And the moment is gone,” she sighed with a smile. “Just stop being a fool and act normal. We have to work together. We have to protect the people in this city. Those explosions were only the beginning of something big. We haven’t heard of him for over a month. What if that’s his strategy?”

     “I know,” Tony sighed. “I will do my best and act normal, okay? It’s just, things have got a little hasty, you know? I had to deal with some complications in my company. I went to New York for two days. It happened so quickly.”

     “But when you came back, you could call me. I would have understood, Tony. I’m not an idiot. However, you had other and better plans to do,” she rolled her eyes. “That wasn’t nice from you.”

     “I know.”

     “You know? Then why did you do it? Why didn’t you call me back? I just want to know, that’s all I want now. And, um,” she stopped speaking. The remembrance of their quarrel made her upset. “Did you mean it?”

    “Mean what?”

    “That it is my entire fault?” she said very carefully.

    Before Tony could reply, a man came to the dancing couple. “Mr Stark, in a few minutes we will need you up on the stage with your traditional speech,” he informed him. It was an older gentleman with grey hair. He looked like one of the staff and not like a guest.

    The man with a perfectly fixed goatee nodded. “Oh, before you go I need one more thing. Put one more seat to my table for this beautiful lady. Her chair must be right next to mine.” He winked at Adeline while he was talking to the man. The woman was surprised with his action. Sadly, he didn’t answer her question. Was it all true? Did he really mean all those things? “Come,” he interrupted her from thinking. “Let’s take a seat.”

    “I don’t think…”

    “Please, Adeline. I’m glad you are here and it would make me happy if you enjoy this night like you wanted to enjoy prom,” he smiled a little. He remembered what she said to him during one pizza night. His forearm was awaiting her. As a sign of acceptance, she gently took his arm and together they walked to the Stark table.

    “Adeline!” Rhodey gave a bright smile once he saw her.

    “Hey, man,” she waved with her free hand. “You look nice,” she was suddenly brightly smiling. Tony noticed the change and he wasn’t enthusiastic about it. When she let his forearm go, he felt empty, like something was missing in his life. He watched her hugging his best friend and chatting with him. Was there a sparkle between them? Was he jealous?

    “Mr Stark,” a soft voice interrupted him. “It’s time for your speech,” this time, a woman reminded him the activity. Before Adeline could notice it, Tony was gone, heading to the small stage with champagne in his right hand.

    Rhodey helped her sat down like a true gentleman. She was sitting between the best friends. The seat on her right was empty – it belonged to Tony. “How did you get here? I am surprised!” Rhodey was only friendly and they stayed in touch after the fight she had with Tony. “I honestly wasn’t expecting you here tonight. Neither did Tony.”

    “Well, I found this occasion two days ago. I came here mainly because of the innocent people. You never know what can happen here,” she winked at him and took a glass of champagne between the fingers.  “Luckily, I found a dress in my closet and here I am, sitting next to you,” she made a grimace.

    “Did Tony apologize to you?” James changed the topic a little bit.

     “He did,” she sighed, put one elbow on the table and leant her head against her hand. “When I asked him if he really means all those things he said, he didn’t reply. Yes, we were interrupted but… still.”

_-Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome on the stage Mr Tony Stark. –_

    The people started to clap with hands and both Adeline and James focused their eyes on Tony, who came up on the stage and smiled. There he was, the confident man with a perfectly fixed goatee, expensive tux and an arc reactor in his chest, which was hidden under his white chemise. Adeline was scanning his moves and gestures. She had the time to check him from afar. He was attractive as hell. And even when he said those things to her and blamed her for everything, she still liked him a lot. How was that possible? Was it really love?

    His speech was powerful and not at all boring. His words were wise, strong and supportive. Tony was a professional. Sometimes, his eyes went from side to side when they stopped on the woman in a purple dress. He took a deep breath, made a small pause. His mouth said the words for the occasion but his mind was focusing on her. She was listening, looking at him and her face remained neutral. She was the perfection, the woman he was looking for his whole life. So, was this love?

     “I wish you a beautiful evening and enjoy this magical night with us on this gala. Thank you,” those were the last words for the crowd. He deserved a massive applause, which was followed by the orchestra and a new song. His current goal was to take Adeline for a dance. Unfortunately, his plan was interrupted by a group of important people and business partners.

    Adeline’s ears overheard a familiar song. “Isn’t that Lacrimosa by Mozart?”

    “I guess,” James wasn’t sure. “Would you like to dance?” he stood up, set his hand to the woman and smiled.

    “Uh, okay,” the brunette accepted and took his hand. While Tony was having an important conversation, she wanted to have some fun and also keep an eye on the people in the ballroom. Together, they went into the middle of the dance floor and started to dance a slow waltz.

    “Hey, did you figure something out with your abilities?” he asked politely, trying to have a small talk.

    She shook her head. “No. I can still do the only thing – create a shield around me, which can protect me and some people near me. The only thing I realised is that it can change the size a little but not much.”

    “Do you think it will widen after some practice?” he took a deep breath and looked around them, checking the situation.

    “Maybe, I don’t know. I haven’t spoken to my father in a while, plus I have this ability for about thirty years. I don’t think something would change in a snap. Of course, I wasn’t using my ability for about twenty years.” While they were talking together, her green orbs saw Tony. He was also talking with some people but his eyes were locked on her.

     “Mr Stark I think you should visit New York, let’s say next Sunday. Your building is being finished,” said one of the men. “There are some issues that need to be solved as soon as possible.”

    Tony stopped the man with his hand. “You know what?” he was still looking at his friend and the woman in the purple dress. “I’ll call you tomorrow evening and we will talk about this in peace, okay? Now, if you excuse me, I have another matter that is awaiting me,” he gave him a smirk, drank the last drops of the champagne and gave the glass to the man. After that, he made his way through the crowd to take Adeline from Rhodey.

    The billionaire was very close but he was stopped by one of the guests. “Mr Stark,” a deep masculine voice addressed him. Tony stopped, looked for the voice and he saw an older man in a dark brown tux with a devilish smirk on his face. His left arm was supported by a bandage. “May we have a word?” The Iron Man himself was surprised by an unexpected guest he saw. Grey combed hair, wrinkles on the face and deep dark eyes were looking into his brown. His hand reached out to him. “I’m glad we met once again. As you may already know, I am Peter Tunderbalt.”

     They shook their hands, so nothing would be suspicious. “What are you doing here?” his voice was deeper, angrier and irritating.

    “Don’t worry, Mr Stark, I only came her for a talk, nothing else,” he confidently smiled. “But if you try to do something, believe me, you’ll regret it. I also have some people on my side. Only one order and this whole place could be under rocks and ashes.”

    “Tell me what do you want and then leave. This is between me and you. Leave these people alone,” Tony gritted his teeth.

    Adeline was once again talking to Rhodey when she saw Tony having a conversation with another man. When the guest turned a little and showed his face, Adeline’s eyes went wide open and she dryly swallowed. "Is everything…” James didn’t even finish his question. When he looked at the same direction, his face was in shock.

    “He’s here,” she whispered.

     “Keep dancing,” he required her.

    “You know, Tony,” Goth started to walk around him, checking his tux. “You know very well it is not just between us. Now, let’s talk business. I came here to make a deal with you,” he said calmly. His evil glance wasn’t focusing on the genius anymore but they saw the nearest dancing couple. They were looking at them. He smiled. “You will give me the cure and I promise you to leave this town alone. I think it is a very advantageous offer, don’t you think?”

    Tony was irritated by him. “For the last time – I don’t have your fucking cure.”

    Goth squinted his eyes. “Let me tell you something,” he put his healthy arm over his shoulder. “This man you already know, Martin Montana, was and still is a very resourceful man. He created this amazing thing, which can change people’s DNA and they can gain abilities – once again, you already know that. Nevertheless, I know that you do have the cure.” When he was speaking, his voice was softer, bewitching. Tony’s eyes were immediately on Adeline. “The Montana family was always unusual. A scientist as the head of the family,” he took a deep breath, “a mother who was always accepting the consequences and an older daughter who was forced to not use the special abilities,” he laughed. “Don’t forget about her younger sister.”

    There was a massive silence between the men. Those words made Tony insecure. He was afraid that Goth may hurt Adeline anytime soon. “Do not touch her!” Tony threatened him with a voice of a tiger.

     “Why? Give me one reason, Stark?” Goth was a maniac and even his smile was a proof of it. “Do you like her that much? Is the famous Tony Stark in love with a woman? She’s unique and very beautiful. I see why you like her. Don’t you worry, I won’t take her now. Unfortunately, you never know when I’ll be back,” he patted his right shoulder. Those were his last words. Goth slowly made his way through the crowd of people. Before he left the gala, he gave Adeline and James a devilish smile and a wink with one eye.

    Tony came to the confused dancing couple. “What did he want?!” Adeline asked him with a fear in her voice. She was looking into his eyes. If she could, she would grab his blazer and shake with him.

    “Is he planning something?” James asked another question.

     “We have to go,” the genius said breathlessly.

    The brunette was even more confused. “Why? What is going on?”

    Tony looked at his best friend. “He knows about Adeline.”

    “What?” she almost screamed. “How is that possible? What did he tell you?”

    “Can we just go? The people are safe, however, you are not, Ad,” he looked into her face. “I’ll tell you everything. Now we have to go to my place and we will talk about this – privately. Rhodes, you got a car here?”

    The man with dark chocolate skin nodded. “You guys go ahead. I have to do one more thing before I leave. I must speak with the General. It won’t take long. I’ll be right behind you,” he gave Tony a small smile, patted Adeline’s shoulder and immediately lost in the crowd of people.

    The two of them were alone, standing in the middle of the dance floor, looking into each other’s eyes. Tony was enchanted by her beauty. She looked terrific. “I wanted to dance with you. It’s a pity we have much more important things to do now.”

    “Oh, suddenly,” she mocked him with a grin on her face. “By the way, nice speech back there, Stark.”

    “You were listening?” She nodded. “And were you listening to me like few seconds ago when I said, we have to leave?” his eyebrows went up. There was a huge smirk on his face. “Now, come,” he took her hand and gently squeezed it. Her breath immediately disappeared. The touch was powerful and she could feel the spark. Both of them could feel it.

    The way out was harder than it seemed to be. Tony held her hand and didn’t let go until they were near the entrance door. Before they left, she quickly grabbed her big purse. It was hidden in one of the rooms for staff. “I’ll explain that later,” she giggled when she got back to him and once again their hands connected.

    “I need my car,” Tony gave a command to one young man.

    “Right away, sir,” he replied politely.

    “Please, ignore the flash and photographers,” he warned the brunette in the purple dress.

    “Okay?” she said it unsurely. In front of the building, there were a lot of photographers waiting for any famous person. They needed pictures for new gossips and stories to write. This was the thing Tony was talking about. The paparazzi were taking pictures of them, capturing every detail and screaming Tony’s name. Adeline held her breath for a while. Now her face will be on every newspaper or social media. She will be another of Tony’s one-night stands.

     “Come,” he said gently and pulled her hand. There was no stopping. They had to leave the gala. Adeline followed him quietly. Together, they were walking town the red carpet, heading to the main road. A car was waiting there for them and the young man stepped out from it. Once they were close to the car, he gave the keys to Tony and opened the door for Adeline.

    The flashing lights were everywhere, following them to the car. They were still screaming Tony’s name, asking for another picture. The billionaire sat down on the driver’s seat. The engine was on in a second and they both went away.  


	12. Chapter twelve – The silent night

**Chapter twelve – The silent night**

                    They were quiet the whole time they spend in the car. The woman’s eyes focused on the dark night city of L.A., enjoying the spectacular view. She always loved nights in this city because she felt free and she could help innocent women and young girls. She missed those days. Everything was changing rapidly. One day, she was a waitress in a bar and suddenly, with a blink of an eye, she was sitting next to the genius himself, Tony Stark.

    She sighed. Tony heard it. He wanted to ask her if everything was okay but he rather remained silent. He screwed it one time and the best thing he could do was to keep his mouth shut for a while. He realized he probably hurt her a little – his behavior and actions said everything. Maybe he’ll explain to her everything when the time is right.

    The ride was very long and the silence could be chopped into pieces. When they finally arrived at Tony’s mansion, it was almost after one o’clock in the morning. “So what do we do now?” she asked the man to her left when she stepped out from his expensive Audi. While fixing her dress, Tony came closer to her and leaned against the car. He was gazing at her, smiling a little bit and heavily breathing. “You have to… Tony?” she looked at him. “Why are you staring at me?”

    “I… uh, I was just thinking about an issue I have to deal with – nothing important. Let’s go upstairs and we can talk there.”

    “Wait,” she stopped him and set her big purse to him. “Can you hold this for me while I take off my high heels? My feet are killing me.”

    Tony looked at her hand with the purse. “I don’t like being handed thing,” he replied.

    “What the fuck?” her eyes with a perfect makeup on were wide open. She started to laugh a little. “You don’t like being handed things?” she was making fun of him. “Well, I don’t like your attitude, so here,” he forced him to hold the purse. “Hold it for a moment.”

    “You are mean to me.”

    “Because you deserve it,” she gave him a smirk. Adeline took off her shoes and held them in her left hand. Then she took the purse from the man. “And it didn’t even hurt. Hello, JARVIS,” she greeted with the AI.

    ~ _Good morning, Miss Montana,_ ~ he replied.

    “When did you become friends with my AI?” Tony asked the brunette with a surprised voice. 

    “Are you jealous, Mr. Stark?” Adeline said it without any emotions in her voice. “Can we now focus on more important things like what did Goth tell you back at the Gala? How did he find out about me? It is freaking me out, you know.”

     ~ _Mr. Stark, I have to inform you that Mr. Rhodes is on his way here_. ~

    “That was fast,” Adeline commented. “He must have left right after us.” The brunette didn’t care what Tony was doing or if he was following her. She made it straight to the upper floor where was the living room.

    “She even has a perfect ass,” Tony murmured under his nose when he was alone. “What do you think, Jarvis?”

    ~ _I’m not here to evaluate Miss Montana’s proportions, Mr. Stark,~_ the AI replied calmly.

    “No fun with you, JARV,” the man laughed a little bit. While he was approaching the living room he took off the black bow from his neck and unbuttoned the white shirt. The arc reactor was now much visible. When he came to the living room, the lights were already turned on and some voiced were heard from the sofa. Tony saw there his best friends talking to Adeline, who was comfortably sitting on the couch. Her high-heels laid on the table and she had a big smile on her face. He felt broken. Maybe Rhodey was right that night – maybe he doesn’t have to be the Iron Man to get the girl.

    “There you are, Tony,” James turned to the man with the goatee and gave him a smile. “What took you so long down there? Tell us everything that Goth told you.”

    He stayed quiet for a while. He was alternately looking at them. “Tony?” Adeline said his name very softly. “Should we expect something bad?”

    “He knows about you,” he replied quietly and gulped. “He knows about everything. I don’t know how, he just told me about your father, mother and even about your sister. He knows what you can do; he knows that you have the cure in your veins, Adeline.” He saw the change in her face. Her green eyes were wide open; she could barely breathe and even changed the way she was sitting. Her spine was straight; the hands were immediately holding the couch. “He’s coming for you.”

    “How does he know?” James couldn’t believe his ears.

    Adeline quickly stood up. Her mouth was open, ready to say something, however, nothing came out. She was speechless. Her eyes were focusing on Tony. There was a silent conversation between them. They were communicating through their eyes. “When?” she asked after a long pause.

    “I don’t know. You might not notice but one of his hands was injured – probably from the fight, we had the day when your work was destroyed. He’ll probably attack when he’s fully recovered.” While he was talking, the woman started to walk from the couch to the window and back. She bit her lower lip; put her head down and think about the situation. She was so focused on it; she didn’t hear the men calling her name. “Ad!” strong hands grabbed her shoulders. Tony was suddenly in front of her, looking into her face. “Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out.”

    “How? What are you going to do about it? Nothing, Tony. He wants me because I have the cure in my veins. We all know he’ll do anything just to get what he wants. It’s just a matter of time when he’ll come for me,” she sighed while looking into Tony’s eyes. “There are only two options. One, I will leave this city and maybe the country, or I’ll surrender.”

    “No! No – no! There are other ways too!” Tony was frowning at her.

    “Okay, so tell me, what we can do, because I don’t think there is much to do,” she shook his hands off her shoulders and turned to James. “Will you try to find him and stop him? We don’t even know where he is.”

    “Adeline, we will figure something out, don’t worry,” said James calmly. “He’s the Iron Man, I’m War Machine and…”

    “And you think that is the answer to everything?” She closed her eyes for a moment. This conversation was only heading to a fight between them. With a wave of a hand, Adeline started to walk away from them. She heard enough.

    “Hey! Hey! Where do you think you are going?” Tony yelled at her.

    “I’m going home, Tony. I’ve heard enough for today,” she replied silently, not stopping and turning back to the men. She wasn’t wearing her high heels and she didn’t care less.

    “I can give you a lift,” Rhodey offered her.

    “No!” Tony didn’t allow it. “She’s staying here tonight. I’m not letting you go, Adeline,” he was pointing at her when she turned to him. Her mouth was wide open and her eyebrows were up. “You can’t be alone. Tonight, you are staying here.”

    “I am not!”

    “Tony, you can’t force her to stay here with you,” Rhodey disagreed with his friend and crossed his arms over his chest.

    “I can and I will. Look, this isn’t funny. Goth made his appearance at the Gala and he wants her. The only thing we can do at the moment is to look after her,” the Iron Man himself explained. “She needs to be with someone – me or you until we figure out what will be our next step, okay?”

     There was a long pause between them. Rhodey was looking at Adeline; she was looking at Tony and cursing under her nose. When she     rolled her eyes she forcibly nodded. “Fine,” she growled. “But I don’t have anything here with me – no clothes, no toothbrush, anything.”

    “Don’t worry. I’ll find here something for you,” Tony gave her a devilish smirk. “By the way, tomorrow, both of you are invited to a Gala after-party organized by me, which is going to be spectacular and situated right here,” he smiled like a happy child. Both of his friends gave him an annoyed look. “What? Oh, come on! I planned this for over a month.”

    “And you never mentioned it before,” said Rhodey.

    “Exactly! Hey man, you like my parties anyway. And you,” he pointed at Adeline, “will love them as well. I have the best parties and I’m not afraid to say it.”

    “Well,” the woman took a few steps closer to them, “since I have two babysitters, I guess I don’t have a choice. At least Rhodey wouldn’t want to go and I would have to spend the time with him. Tonight I’m staying here with you Stark, right? Tomorrow, I’ll have to be with James.” Despite the fact she was mad at Tony for what he did, she wanted to be with him as much as possible. Sometimes she had a feeling he might like her back. Although, she knew Tony would never return the feelings because he enjoyed the one-night stands and being single. “Now, if you excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom.”

    Both of the men were watching her leaving the living room. When they were finally alone, Tony stepped closer to his friend and put a hand on his shoulder. “Rhodey, you have to come tomorrow. I want you two here.”

    “No, Tony. You want Adeline here. You don’t care about me.”

    “That’s bullshit. You know I care about you. Anyway, what is going on between you two? Are you dating, flirting or something? Not that I would care, but…”

    “Can you just stop?” Rhodes rolled his eyes. “Look at you, Tony. You are jealous. I can see it; I’m not blind and stupid. There is nothing going on between me and Adeline. We are just friends. We were in touch when you two had that big fight. And don’t try to fool me, Stark. I can see, you like her a lot.”

    “That’s what you said,” he moved his shoulders. “I just asked and that’s all. Promise me, you two will come tomorrow, okay? We have to keep an eye on her.” Tony patted his back.

    “Fine. I will come for her in the morning, okay? I have to go, man, I’m tired and I would like to go to bed and just enjoy the bed sheets. See you in the morning, and say hi to Adeline.” When he left, Tony was all alone in the living room for the next couple of minutes. He sat down on the sofa, made himself comfortable and just stared at the bar section right opposite to him. There he was, in his mansion alone with the unique woman he adored. Maybe he should explain to her everything – why exactly he was avoiding her, his actions and why he was so mean to her.

    He heard steps coming to the living room. “Hey, Rhodes, maybe we should…” Adeline stopped talking when she saw only Tony sitting on the couch. “Where’s James?” she turned around.

    “He left,” Tony answered. “It’s just you and me.”

    “Oh,” a soft voice came out of her throat. “So, can you give me something to wear? I can’t sleep in this dress. It is way too uncomfortable,” she pointed at herself. “And I need a toothbrush,” she insisted. “You want me here, no? So take care of me,” she put hands on her sides. Something was different and she could feel it. Before the fight, she felt comfortable in his presence. They could talk, laugh and mock each other. Now, it was a little awkward and way uncomfortable than before.

    He hummed while nodding his head. “Okay,” that was all he said. He stood up, gulped dryly and without any other word, he went on the upper floor to his bedroom. Adeline was looking at him with wider eyes. His behavior was strange.  Did he and Rhodey have a fight while she was in the bathroom? Her eyes went from confused to sad. She took a seat on the edge of the sofa and turned to the giant window. The view from the mansion always fascinated her – it was beautiful, mysterious and sometimes magical.

    Maybe Tony wasn’t the right man for her. He was known for his money and reputation of a womanizer. Why would he want a woman like her? Why she even let this happened? She scratched her nape and sighed. “Will this be good?” Tony’s voice came from behind her. She turned to him and saw a dark t-shirt with something written on it and a pair of black boxers. When he was closer to her, she recognized the shirt. It was his favorite one with Black Sabbath. He put it on the coffee table in front of her.

    “Yes,” she said silently. “Thank you.”

    “In the bathroom, on this floor, there is a spare toothbrush in a drawer under the washbasin. You’ll find there everything you need – well, not everything,” he gave her a little smirk. “Oh, you can take the blanket, draped over the chair,” she pointed at the chair in the corner of the room, near the sofa. “I won’t even try to invite you to my bed, where you are always welcomed,” he laughed a little, “but I know what your answer would be.”

     “Clever boy,” she gave him a smile. “Thank you, Tony.”

     He felt a little uneasy. He was shuffling from foot to foot; his face was strange, but he didn’t say anything more to her. He just gave her one last wave and head to his bedroom. Adeline watched him, leaving her all alone in the gracious living room. It was time to take off the dress and put something more comfortable on – the t-shirt and the boxers.

    A few seconds later, she was standing there only in her black lingerie. Adeline swung the dress over the sofa. Afterward, she put on the clothes Tony gave her. It was much more comfortable than the dress and she secretly loved the t-shirt too. They had the same taste in music. Before she could lie down on the couch, she went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth with the toothbrush she found there.

    Adeline was unaware of the time. When she got back to the room, the lights were already dimmed. She didn’t feel tired. She woke up at noon the day before. Also, it was because she never felt good when she wasn’t sleeping in her bed. The brunette sighed, took the blanket from the chair and threw it over her shoulders. It was very soft to the touch, which made her smile a little. In addition, she could feel Tony’s smell on it. Then she went to the gigantic window with the best view and just stood there in quiet. Now, Adeline could see the stars even better than before. The ocean view was amazing, but the stars in the sky were beautiful. There were millions of them, creating pictures and symbols. After a while, the brunette sat down on the cold floor, hugged her legs and just stared at the beauty in front of her.

    Meanwhile, Tony was in his bed alone, looking directly at the ceiling and thinking about her. Was she already sleeping, or was she awake? What was this woman doing to him? He never felt this – not even in high school. For over half an hour he was thinking about her. “Jarvis?” he said quietly. He moved his hands in front of his face. “Show me, Adeline,” he asked for her. A small hologram appeared above him. There she was – sitting on the floor and looking out the window. Tony had to smile a little. “How long is she sitting like this?”

    ~ _For about forty-five minutes, sir_ ,~ the AI replied calmly.

    The man sighed a little bit. She was there, in his mansion the whole night and he didn’t do anything. He didn’t even properly talk to her. Maybe this was his last chance to talk to her, just like a few weeks ago. They had a very good time together. Why not now?

    Another minute passed and Tony finally made his decision. He stood up and without any hesitation he went downstairs to the living room. Just in case, he made up a short story about how he can’t sleep and the needing of a glass of water. The steps were pretty silent. Tony couldn’t saw her from the stairs. She was hidden behind the sofa. The man with the arc reactor in his chest came closer to the couch. “Adeline?” he said her name softly.

    “Yeah?” a voice came from behind the couch. Tony stepped closer to her. The spine was leaning against the sofa and he was still hugging her legs.

    “What are you doing here?”

    She yawned. “I’m just looking at the stars because I’m not that tired. What are you doing here?”

     “I,” he cleared his throat. “I can’t sleep and I wanted to grab something from the kitchen.” He took a breath. “You never told me you like stars so much,” he smiled.

     Adeline finally looked at him. “That’s because you never asked,” she deeply inhaled. With the right hand, she patted the seat next to her. “If you want, you can join me.” Tony accepted the invitation immediately and sat down next to her. His left shoulder was touching hers. “I always loved stars,” she started talking. “Ever since I was a child, I found them magical. There were times when I would just sit in front of my window and look at this beauty,” she moved her hand towards the window. “When my little sister was about three or four, we used to sit together in our garden during summer and just watch the dark sky full of stars. I told her many stories and she loved them very much.” There was an unusual smile on her face and Tony noticed it. Even though there wasn’t enough light, he found her with that smile very beautiful.

     “I am really sorry,” he said unexpectedly. The woman turned her head to him. Tony’s head was bowed down and he focused on his fingers. “I acted like a dick.”

    “At least you admitted that,” she replied softly. “Just don’t do it, okay? We have a mission to do. We have to be prepared. Now, let’s forget about what happened and focus on the present and the future.” Sometimes it was better to let the past be. Tony nodded and the right corner of his lips created a smile. And then an unusual thing happened – Adeline leaned her head on his shoulder. Her green eyes were once again looking at the night sky full of stars. For once she stopped thinking and let everything be – her emotions, the past and the thought of what may happen very soon.

    The silence between them wasn’t uncomfortable at all. It was sweet and both of them enjoyed it. Tony had the urge to lean to her head and give a soft kiss on her hair. He didn’t do it. He only inhaled her typical scent. Adeline closed her eyes. She felt secure and serene. Never had she thought, she would have fall asleep leaning against Tony’s shoulder. He noticed that after a while when she wasn’t moving. The man quietly laughed at her. He found it very sweet. Very carefully, Tony picked up Adeline bridal style. She was light as a feather and sleeping deeply. He placed her on the couch and covered her with the blanket.

    It was a nice change – seeing her sleeping and not arguing or mocking her. She looked peaceful, like a princess. When did he change? When did his mind and feelings start to act like this? He liked her so much, and yet he was mean to her. The new feelings scared him. That’s why he avoided her, but she didn’t know that. Before Tony left her, he gently stroked her cheek. There were only two things he could do – admit the feeling to her or push them back. He clenched one of his fists and stepped away from the woman. His mind was freaking out. Before he could do anything else, he ran up to his bedroom and went to bed…

    Adeline woke up to the sound of a car’s engine. Her sight was blurry, the still brushed hair was a little messy and she felt something smooth under her. How did she end up on the sofa? When she looked around, there was no one. The windows were dark and the whole room looked like it was still a night time. Then she remembered – the short conversation with Tony. She fell asleep and he was the one who put her there. In a second, there was a bright smile on her face.

    The brunette heard steps from the entrance door. She blinked a few times, so her sight was once again normal. “Good morning,” a male voice said. James was wearing casual clothing and he held car keys in his right hand. “Are you ready to go?”

    The woman was confused. “I just woke up and I have no idea what time it is.”

    “Is Tony still sleeping?”

    “I have no idea. Okay,” she slowly stood up and stretched. “I’ll just take my dress and purse and shoes and we can go,” she yawned while talking to him. “I don’t care how I look. I just want to go home where I can enjoy my bed and my kingdom.”

    Rhodes laughed at her. “Well, madam, the car is awaiting you. Don’t forget – tonight is the fancy Stark party.”

    “Can’t you see how excited I am?” she rolled her eyes. “Let’s go before I’ll fall asleep.”


	13. Chapter thirteen – All the jealousy

**Chapter thirteen – All the jealousy**

    After two hours, Adeline finally picked the perfect dress for Stark’s party. Some of the not suitable dresses were lying on the floor; the others were on the bed. She was looking into a mirror, checking her figure from every side and smiling at herself. It was an off-shoulder sheath dress of navy blue color. It perfectly showed her body and long legs because the length was to her mid-tights. This was the best option for all the dresses she had. And it wasn’t very slutty or innocent.

    While she was looking at herself, her phone beeped. It was a text message from James. They were texting the whole day, talking about their jobs and also about Tony. Adeline wanted to know something more about him. **I’LL BE THERE AT 7:30 PM. PLEASE BE READY** – James wrote. She had to laugh. It is said that women were always late because it always took them too long to get ready. She wasn’t like them – most of the time. When she looked at the time, she waved with hand – she still had two hours left.

    The hair was brushed into curlers, so they could form natural wavy curls. Before she could finish her hair, she put on makeup. Adeline chose a very natural look but she put black lines on her eyelids. Very easy and sexy at the same time. Was he dressing up for Tony? Maybe she was. She always wanted to look good at any kinds of parties.

    When she was finally ready, she looked stunning. The dress, the hair, and even the shoes – everything was perfect. She remembered the times with her girls when they used to go out and attend some parties. Those were the days. Now it was only her. Both of the girls were dead because of Goth who murdered them.  Adeline closed her eyes for a moment. The rage raised in her veins. She had to inhale and exhale before she could open her eyes and fall back to the reality.

    Before she left the apartment, she took the most important things – a purse with keys, mobile phone, cash and a small perfume. Also, she took a small bag where were Tony’s clothes which she borrowed from him. It was time to meet Rhodes on the street. Standing in the elevator, looking at the door, Adeline suddenly felt nervous. “It’s just a normal party, Ad,” she tried to calm herself down. Her hands were shaking a little bit. She wouldn’t be that nervous but that last night just proved her how much she liked him. She even fell asleep on his shoulder and Tony then took her and put on the couch…

    “Look at you, all fancy!” James was leaning against his black Audi car and his arms were crossed over his chest. “You look great,” he was smiling at her like a child.

    “Is it okay, not too much?” she turned around just to show-off. “It’s a party, so I thought I should dress like any other time.”

    “Can I ask you something?” James had a weird look on his face.

    “Yeah, go on.”

    “Did you dress up for Tony? And please, spare me from your excuses. Just answer honestly.”

    Adeline dryly gulped. She was looking into his eyes, not breaking it. “No, I am not,” she tried to say it confidently but her voice cracked. “I wanted to look good for you,” she started to laugh like a little girl and she winked at him. “This is how I always dressed up for parties and believe me, this outfit is pretty much normal – you know, something between innocent and slutty.”

    “Mm, yeah, okay,” Rhodes was giggling. “Well, madam, shall we go?” he opened the door for her like a true gentleman. “Tonight, you are my beautiful companion.”

    “Uuu, what a gentleman,” she approached the car and with a bright smile on her face, she sat down and James closed the door. Rhodes was a good man, charming too, however, Adeline wasn’t attracted to him at all. She could feel the same sympathy he had for her. They had different taste, different style, and humor. That’s why she liked Tony – they could mock each other, they liked the same music and Tony was sexy as hell. He was filthy rich – that was true. However, she didn’t care about the money. They were just a little plus – a bonus.

    On the way to Malibu – Tony’s mansion – they were talking about some funny moments from their lives. Rhodey mentioned some embarrassing stories with Tony. Most of them happened when they both were drunk. Adeline said a little bit more about her sister and how she used to mock her while she was living with her family in San Francisco.

    The car stopped right in front of the main entrance to Tony’s house. There were a lot of people, the music was way too loud and the first thing Adeline saw was a group of very young girls, wearing the sluttiest dresses she could possibly ever see - like they were from a very bad porno movie. “Are you fucking kidding me?” those were her first words when she stepped out from the car. What she saw took her breath. “Is this normal?”

    “Way too normal,” James sighed. “And you haven’t seen what’s going on inside. Are you ready?”

    “Not at all,” she answered slowly. Her eyes were locked on the young laughing girls. Were they even twenty-one? Were they allowed to be in this party? The last thing she could do before she went into the house was to shake her head disapprovingly. When Adeline passed by them, the girls looked at her. In a second, they remained silent and just scanned her from toes to head.

    The interior was different – many dancing people, colorful lights, and the bar was opened. The majority of guests were mostly females, but there were also many men in fancy suits drinking expensive alcohol. “What do you think now?” Rhodey came closer to her ear so that she could hear him. “This is only the beginning.”

    In the middle of the living room, there was also a stripper pole. Some of the women were dancing around it, laughing and drinking. “Please don’t leave me!” Adeline panicked. The man in a gray blazer started to laugh and grabbed her by her forearm.

    “Don’t worry, I’m right here. First, we should have a drink and then…”

    “Hey!” Tony screamed and waved them.  He was wearing a party hat on his head and the usual pink sunglasses with black frame. He had a bright smile on his face and he was holding a glass of whiskey. “You are here, how sweet,” he came closer to them. Adeline could smell the alcohol from him. “Please, have fun, enjoy this evening. Have a drink; find yourselves a partner or a lover.”

    “How many drinks you already had?” the woman crossed arms over her breasts.

    “Not many,” he answered quickly. “I think you should have one or five. Maybe then your face wouldn’t look so evil and grumpy.”

    “Tony!” someone screamed Tony’s name and he immediately raised his hand above him.

    “I’ll be right back. See you at the bar,” he wink at them and with that, Tony left them alone.

    “That was unexpected,” the woman concluded. “At first, he offended me and now he’s gone. There are way too many people. It’s worse than in New York on the Time Square during the tourist season,” she sighed. “Drink?” she gave him puppy eyes.

     Together, they came to the bar and ordered drinks. Adeline had a double martini and James had a non-alcoholic cocktail. He was driving, so he couldn’t drink. They found a place near the window and sat down on the bar chairs. “Okay, Adeline, we have to talk about something,” Rhodey started the conversation. The woman was looking around; searching for Tony and James noticed it. “Look, I’m not blind and stupid but do you like Tony?”

    She almost choked. “I, uh, what?”

    James laughed. “Adeline, I can see what you are doing now. This afternoon we were texting mostly about him. You were way too interested in my best friend.”

    “And you inferred that from all this?” her right eyebrow lifted.

    “Just tell me the truth. I won’t tell him. He’s obviously drunk,” he tried to persuade her. When Adeline didn’t reply, he continued. “You two are unbelievable. You should see what you two are doing. Neither of you would admit it.”

    “What?” she gasped. “You think Tony likes me? Why would he?” and with that she drank the rest of the martini.

    James found it amusing. “You know what, let it be. Let’s enjoy this evening and if you would like to leave, just let me know. Would you like another drink?”

    “Double martini and a glass of vodka.”

    “Will you handle it?” he looked shocked.

    “Believe me; I can handle a lot of things – alcohol is one of them,” she winked at him. James went to the bar where were a lot of people waiting for their drinks. While he was standing there trying to get the drinks, Adeline stood up from the table and took a quick inspection through the house. The purse was hanging on her shoulder. The people were insane – they were dancing, screaming and drinking at the same time. The DJ made the best show in Tony’s living room.

    “This is sick!” she mumbled under her nose and made her way through the crowd. Tony was probably somewhere else having fun. Why couldn’t she have some fun too? One of the best dance songs was playing. She took the opportunity and started to dance. Adeline didn’t need a dance partner. Her hips were swaying, the dance moves she did were not professional but she did know how to dance. The right arm was up in the air and a smile appeared on her face.  This was what she really needed – a party where she could dance and forget about everything. Adeline spun on the spot and when she stopped her eyes saw two men staring at her – Rhodey and Tony. She could have stop and go to them, however, Adeline continued and went into the middle of the dance floor. She wanted to tease both of them – mostly Tony.

    Her eyes, from time to time looked at the men, who were probably talking about her. Tony had a drink in his left hand and a seductive smile on his face. James was holding an alcoholic drink in his hand. It belonged to her. Adeline was enjoying this. The music was a pleasure for her ears and the dance took all the stress and worries away. The brunette wanted to take Stark to the dance floor. When she looked at the direction he was, she stopped dancing and the positive mood faded away. There were two skinny women standing, each next to his side and he was flirting with them. Adeline’s heart stopped beating. She was looking at Tony leaving with the two girls, both blondes.

    James saw her reaction. The only thing he did, he lifted the alcohol in the air and gave her a compassionate smile. The brunette came to him, grabbed the glass of martini and drank it on one shot. “Where’s the vodka and the rest of the alcohol?” she asked as she went to the bar.

    “Adeline,” Rhodes ran to her. “Adeline, wait,” he grabbed her by the wrist. “I know you are upset. I saw that look in your eyes.”

    She wasn’t listening to him. Adeline stepped closer to one guy, without asking took his drink from his hand. “What the fuck woman?”

    “Sorry, I’m having a rough moment,” she said it without interest and drank it.

    “Adeline!” James took her to the table they were sitting moments ago.

    “I don’t give a fuck about Tony,” she growled. “I’m going to enjoy this evening as always. You don’t have to worry about me. I’m fine. I’ve always been.” Those were the last words she said to him. She turned on her heels and got lost in the crowd of dancing people. She felt pain deep inside her. Love hurts and it was true. She felt this pain only once before this night. She promised to herself she would never fell in love again. Unfortunately, it did happen.

     James scratched his nape and sighed. He knew Tony, he was used to his behavior and actions, but he felt sorry for Adeline. Both of them were like two kids hiding their true feelings…

    Two hours later, Adeline was once again sitting with Rhodey behind one table and they were talking. She calmed herself down by drinking. Her party mood was once again back and James had a lot of work to do not to laugh at her behavior. “That guy even gave me his number,” she pointed at a man standing near the bar, chatting with one of his friends. “He’s sweet.”

    When she wanted to take the glass of vodka, Rhodey stopped her. “I think you shouldn’t be drinking more. You had enough.”

    “I am fine,” she snarled and drank the drink. “I’ve been through worse, believe me. Now, what about you,” she leaned to him and smiled. “Do you like someone? Do you have a girlfriend? Did you find somebody interesting here?” she was curious.

    “Well, I found drank Adeline here, which I find very amusing,” he laughed. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find the perfect woman, yet. With my work and being the War Machine, I don’t have that much time for anything else. It’s just temporary.”

    She had to hug him. “Aw, my friend, don’t worry, you will find someone and very soon,” she looked into his dark eyes and smiled. “We both will. And if not, well, we have each other,” she started to giggle like a kid.

    It made James laugh. He knew Adeline was a little drunk so he took her words with respect. He gently patted her cheek. Suddenly, his eyes found a person standing near the bar. It was Tony – he had his black sunglasses with pink glasses on his head and the chocolate eyes were scanning both of them. He saw what he was doing. Adeline slowly turned around and looked at Tony. She saw the look in his eyes. He took a drink from a bartender and drank it. She squinted her eyes and gave him an evil glance. That was the moment when Tony started to walk to them. An attractive young woman came to his way and stopped him. She had a long red hair, was shorter than him and had a very tight strapless dress. The woman grabbed Tony by his white shirt and dragged him away from the bar.

    “Well, fuck this. I need another drink,” Adeline smiled like an idiot. “Would you like another drink, dance? I would offer you sex but we are friends and I’m not that drunk,” she said it without thinking.

    “Would you consider going home? You don’t have to…”

    “No! I’m having the time of my life!” she made a move with arms as a sign of not caring about anything. “Now I have the time of my life!” she sang…

    …   

    It was almost five o’clock in the morning. Stark’s mansion was almost empty. No guests were in the living room or anywhere in his mansion. Tony came out from his workshop but he wasn’t amused by the mess he saw in the house. There were a lot of empty glasses, some of them were broken and left on the black piano. The party was over and he didn’t even spend the time with the people he wanted to. He was holding a glass of whiskey in his hand. It was the last one, so he drank it. He deeply inhaled the air and loudly sighed. “JARVIS, the first thing you have to do is to call a cleaning service.”

_~As you wish, sir, ~_ the AI replied calmly.

    “Lock the house, I’m going to bed. It’s time for a good eight hours of sleeping. Don’t let anyone disturb me.”

_~Yes, sir.~_

    He was about to leave when he heard a sound of a glass breaking against the floor. It was coming from the bar section. He turned around to see the last guest in his house. “Mm, that must have been an expensive glass,” said a soft woman’s voice. He saw Adeline sitting behind the bar, drinking some kind of alcohol from a bottle.

    “I thought you left,” he sounded shocked.

    “Surprise, surprise,” she said tiredly and a little drunk. “I made a new friend. His name is Jameson and I love him,” she grabbed the open bottle and took a sip. “He convinced me to stay,” the brunette gently stroked the bottle.

    He took some steps closer to her. It was a mistake. The bottle with alcohol suddenly flew near his head and broke against the nearest wall. “What the fuck, Adeline?! Why did you do that?” his eyes were wide open. He wasn’t expecting that at all. He saw her grabbing another empty glass and throwing it directly on him. There was madness in her eyes. “Stop it, Adeline!” Another glass flew near him. He tried to protect himself with his arms. “What is the matter with you?!”

    She was angrily walking to him. “No, the question is: what is the matter with you?”

    “Am I the one who is throwing my fancy glasses?!” he yelled at her. His dark brown hair was messy and his eyes were tried. “I’m not in a mood for a fight.”

    “But I am,” she hissed. When she got to him, her left arm tried to punch him in the face. Luckily, Tony ducked down and tried to stop her.

    “What is the matter with you,” he quickly grabbed her by her wrists and stopped her for a moment. “What have I done to you, huh? Why do you want to fight me? I am not your enemy!” He rolled his eyes. “You are drunk, Adeline. You need some sleep.”

    “I am not drunk or should I say – not drunk enough.” She winced and let her wrists free.

    “Then, what is the problem? Talk to me?” he was looking into her green eyes, trying to find the real problem. Why was she so mad at him? “What have I done to you, Adeline?”

    “Everything, Tony! You have done so many things that I can’t take any more of your fucking things!” Tony was confused. She was yelling at him, her eyes were full of darkness and he didn’t know why. He wanted to take a step forward but her reflex was very fast. The shield appeared around her and he almost bumped into it. This was a very risky move. Her ability was unique and strong. He knew what happened when he touched the shield with his suit. It threw him away. “I am dangerous, Tony! Next time try to think twice before you make a move.”

     “You are fucking crazy, woman! Turn the shield down and let’s talk.” It took the woman some seconds to calm her mind and cancel it. Her chest was rising and falling because she was breathing heavily. “What’s with you? Do you hate me?”

    “I do,” she gritted her teeth.

    “Why?”

    Adeline dryly gulped. “Because you broke me,” she answered.

    “What?” he didn’t understand. How could he possibly break her? “I think I need a little more explanation, Adeline. Tell me, I have to know.”

    When she stepped closer to him, their faces were very close. Her index finger was touching his chest right above the arc reactor. “You broke me from inside, Tony. You made me feel and I hate you for that. I started to like you a lot, but seeing you with all those sluts made me hate you. You have any idea what is happening inside me, what mixed feelings I have in my soul.” He never saw her that angry. “You have no idea how I felt when I saw you with all those pretty slutty girls.” When she wanted to move away, Tony didn’t let her go. Now he knew what the fuss was all about.

     He fought back. “Oh, and how do you think I felt when I saw you flirting with my best friend, huh?” his voice was stronger. The brown eyes were darker, looking directly into hers. “What is going on between you two? Rhodes told me there is nothing going on but I beg to differ.”

    “I am friend with Rhodey! When we had that fight, he was the one who stand by my side!”

    “I think you are lying!”

    “Oh, really? I thought that was your specialty! And in fact, how can I have something with Rhodes when I have fucking feelings for you?!” And then he saw it – her green eyes weren’t dark because she hated him, but they were sad and broken. “Now, it doesn’t matter.”

    “It does matter, Adeline!”

    “It’s too late, Tony.”

    “It is never too late,” he disagreed. His hands were suddenly on her waist, pulling the female body close to his. He could feel how tensed she was, but it all went away when his lips crashed on hers and passionately kissed her. At first, she wasn’t working with him. She didn’t want this to happen, but after a few seconds, Adeline’s lips moved and she kissed him back. Her arms wrapped around his neck. When her mouth opened a little bit more just to catch a breath, Tony’s tongue immediately took the opportunity and scanned every corner of her mouth. Their tongues played together, danced and fought. It was all so passionate and delicious. They both tasted from alcohol. Minutes passed by and they slowly tore apart. They looked into each other’s eyes.

    Adeline’s mind couldn’t process it. Was he just using this situation or was he serious? The kiss turned her on and there was no way she could stop this now. The alcohol did its magic. The rage was gone, she felt a bit better and she wanted him and only him. No matter what would happen the next day, no matter how angry she would be; now she wanted that filthy bastard with gorgeous eyes she had ever seen.

    “I want you,” he whispered.

    “Then fuck me,” she moaned and buried her fingers into his hair.

    There was a smirk on his face. “Oh, so now you want me to fuck you? A few minutes ago, you were throwing glasses at me. Do you know what is happening now?”

    “Yes. I hate you because I have fucking feelings for you,” she rolled her eyes. Adeline gave him a little kiss on his lips. “I know I’m a little drunk but still, I want you to fuck me and I don’t care about the morning consequences.”

    “God, you are amazing,” he smiled and once again roughly kissed her. Their tongues once again played together, until Tony moved on her neck and kissed her there for a while. He left some hickeys on each side of the neck. He wasn’t planning on taking her easily. He wanted the exact opposite. She begged him to fuck her and she was going to get what she wanted. Tony pushed her to the nearest wall. His body was pressing against hers and his hands were caressing the lovely feminine body. His lips moved to her collarbone. “Mine,” he said while licking the spot and nibbling it.

    Adeline grabbed him by his white shirt and with one move she tore it apart. The buttons flew away and in a moment, he was standing in front of her shirtless. The arc reactor was shining like the last time she saw it at close quarters. The feminine palms stroked his chest, slowly moved down to his trousers just to unbuckle them.

    Tony stopped her before she could do anything more. He grabbed the end of the blue dress and pulled it up. With that, he was gently touching her thighs and making her moan even louder. It brought him a joy to his ears and he had to smile. He kissed her lips roughly, biting her lower lip. Then he lifted her up and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist. Somehow, Tony moved with her to another place. It wasn’t that far. When Adeline saw the big black piano, she was trembling and smiling little. In a second, all the mess was gone because Tony wanted to make a space for the woman. What was better than a sex on a fancy black piano? He laid her down on top of it.

    Tony spread her legs and buried his head between them. He gave sweet kisses to her thighs, slowly moving to her womanhood. He heard her moans and the sweet noises she made. When his thumb gently stroked her clit trough the panties, Adeline mumbled something under her nose. “I can’t hear you, baby. What were you saying?” he stopped doing everything and just looked at her.

    Adeline had to sit and look into his face. “Stop messing with me and fuck me already. I want you inside of me. I want to feel your cock,” she squinted her eyes and in a second, her lips crashed onto his.

    “You are a little wild, aren’t you? No foreplay?” his hand was once again between her legs. It got under her panties and pushed one finger inside her wet folds. She gasped. “As I can feel, you are already wet for me.”

    “Tony…” she bit her lower lip and leaned her forehead against his.

    “I think you are overdressed,” he gave her a peck on the lips. He stopped playing with her and put her down off the piano. Adeline quickly unzipped her dress on the left side and Tony took it off. She was standing there only in her underwear. She wasn’t wearing a bra. A bright smile appeared on his face and his palms started to play with her breasts. “So beautiful,” he mumbled and once again kissed her neck. “Mine. Only mine.”

    She didn’t think about those words. Her slim fingers were back on his zipper, trying to unzip him. She wanted to touch him, like that time when they had sex for the first time. Tony helped her. When the trousers slowly slipped down, her right hand was immediately inside his boxers, gently stroking his semi-hard cock. “Look at you,” she started to whisper. “You want me so badly. Already so hard and ready, am I right?” And then she leaned to his ears and bit the earlobe.

    Tony passionately growled. With a quick spun, he turned her to face the piano and roughly pushed her chest on it. The last part of the clothing – his boxers and her underwear – was suddenly gone. Tony gave a soft kiss on her spine and spread her legs. Instinctively, she put the right leg on the piano, so Tony could have a better access. She felt his body on hers from behind; his masculine hands were holding her sides as he slowly entered her from behind.

    The woman gasped but she was smiling and arched her back. Tony put one arm around her torso, so he could hold her closer to his body. At first, he moved slowly, gently. Later, when she begged him to go faster he fulfilled her wish. Once again, she was supporting her body with her arms against the piano. Her beautiful hair was messed up. “Oh, Tony, fuck yes,” she moaned and squirmed under him.

    His two fingers were suddenly on her clit, swirling and stroking it passionately. She was close to reaching her peak. The sound which came from her throat was warning Tony she is close to climax. And so was he. Before the both of them could cum, Tony stopped for a moment and changed the position. He could hear her mewl. He took her to the piano stool. He sat on it and pulled her to him. Adeline was supposed to ride him and she loved the idea. She took his erect shaft and slowly sat on it. It was her time to take the lead.

    Adeline was kneeling on the stool; Tony was perfectly situated between her legs and she was slowly riding him. He had a lot of work to do not to fell from the stool. His arms were holding the edge of the stool and she was holding his shoulders. “Fuck, Adeline, I’m so close.”

     Before she could reply, Tony quickly took his penis out from her and cum straightly on her belly. He was growling, moaning and breathing heavily, smiling like a devil and his eyes were closed. The woman, on the opposite, wasn’t satisfied like he was. She needed to reach her peak. She was very close. When Tony opened his chocolate eyes and saw her face, he gave her an innocent smirk. “Don’t worry, I will take care of you,” he leaned to her and kissed her. A second later, Tony was holding Adeline in his strong arms, slowly walking through the whole ground floor up to his bedroom.

    This early morning didn’t end for them.


	14. Chapter fourteen - No broken hearts

**Chapter fourteen - No broken hearts**

    Adeline carefully opened her eyes. Everything was blurry and dark. Where was she? The place was for a moment unfamiliar. She winked a few times until her sight was back to normal. She felt soft mattress under her and silk duvets draped over her naked body. She remembered what happened - all the sex with Tony – that’s happened a few hours ago. What was the time, she had no idea. When her head turned to the right side, she saw a man complacently sleeping next to her. Tony was lying on his chest, his head was heading her direction but he was asleep. He looked peaceful and his mouth was finally shut for a while. She slowly inhaled the air around her and quietly as a mouse sat down, holding the duvet on the chest.

    That night didn’t mean anything, she thought. Tony only used her for sex, like he always wanted. She was a little drunk and upset and that’s why she let everything be and slept with him. It was a mistake and she felt even more broken than before. She admitted him the hidden feelings she had. Then she wanted to fight with him – unfortunately, that didn’t happen but they ended up having sex. That wasn’t very clever.

    Adeline quietly took everything she found on the floor. First, she found one of Tony’s shirts and put it on, so she wasn’t walking around naked. All of her stuff – the purse, dress, shoes, pieces of her last dignity were found on the ground floor. Tony took them off before they had sex against the piano. He was good – more than good. That she admitted. He was perfect from the sexual side.

    “JARVIS?” she whispered. “Can you tell me what time it is?”

    ~ _It’s twelve o’clock, Miss Montana,_ ~ the system replied.

    “Fuck.”

    The brunette quickly put on the dress, high-heels and hid the underwear into the small stylish purse. There was no time to put them back on. With fingers, she brushed the long wavy hair and fixed it. The walk of shame was the worst thing after a one-night stand. For the last time, the woman looked around the room. It was then when she noticed the cleaned room – like there wasn’t any party before. When did that happen? No broken glasses poured alcohol or trash on the floor. Everything was gone. A loud sigh was heard from her throat. She wanted to remember the place. The brunette was sure she would never come to this mansion. The best thing she could do was to leave and never look back. There was a small tear in a corner of the left eyes.

    She was about to leave when a voice behind her back made her stop. “Where do you think you are going?” Tony asked her calmly. The brunette froze.

    “I’m going home,” Adeline replied and slowly turned to him. He was standing there shirtless, only with his black boxers on. The arc reactor in his chest was still brightly shining. “You got what you wanted, Tony. We had another one-night stand like you always begged for. Now it’s time for me to go home.” Before she could leave, she pointed her index finger at a bag lying next to the couch. “There are your clothes. I brought them yesterday.”

    “Wait, wait, wait,” he stopped her from leaving. “You can’t just leave.” He stepped closer to the woman and looked into her eyes for a moment before they slipped down on the floor.

    “I can and I will.”

    “No! You can’t Adeline, because…”

    “Because what, Tony?” she said angrily. “Give me one good reason, Stark. I don’t think you have any. What happened did – end of story.”

    “Do you want one good reason?” the man gritted his teeth. “Because I have fucking feelings for you too Adeline.” He saw the change in her face. The green eyes were looking directly at him. Her green eyes they were wider, full of emotions. “This night,” he cleared his throat, “wasn’t just a one-night stand. Not for me. Things have changed. Even I changed.”

    “You are lying.”

    “I’m not. I really like you, Adeline. I do have feelings for you the same way you have for me.”

    “But I saw you with those girls and with the redhead one,” she sighed. “There is no way you can like me, no matter what.”

    Tony set his hand to her and waited. “I have a proof for you. I knew you won’t believe me. Come.” He was looking into her beautiful green eyes, waiting for any kind of response. When her hand reached for him, he knew she would listen. He took her hand and together walked to the sofa where they both sat on. “Yes, I was avoiding you.”

    “Now that’s a great start,” she rolled her eyes. Tony gave her an unpleasant glance. “Fine, go on.”

    “I avoided you because I couldn’t handle the fact I started to have feelings for you,” he tried to explain but his voice was shaky and uncertain. “I had work that was true but I was also ignoring your calls and messages because these feelings or what the hell it is came unexpectedly. It was weird for me – the feelings and how some things changed. I never felt like this and… I… I got scared.” Adeline was a good listener. “I know it’s pathetic. Unfortunately, it is true.”

    “What about those girls that day?” she asked carefully.

    “I called them and the plan was to have fun with them,” he smirked, “but nothing happened. I somehow couldn’t. And from the look on your face, I assume you don’t believe me… JARVIS?” he said the AI’s name. A hologram display appeared in front of them. Adeline’s eyes focused on the screen and she saw a video. It was Tony’s bedroom. Two girls were lying on his bed, being all slutty and sexy, while Tony was walking around the bed and talking to them. She heard the conversation. At first, it was some empty words and giggles coming out from the girls. Then it changed and she was shocked. Tony was talking about her – not directly - confessing his feeling to two random girls who listened to him. She looked at him; her eyes were wide open. “And this is from yesterday,” he pointed again at the hologram. Adeline once again looked at it. He showed her nothing happened with all those girls. The first two were left in the kitchen section and the redhead was with Tony for few minutes near the entrance door but they were just talking. From the look on that face, it didn’t seem like a pleasant conversation. The woman was frowning and rolling her eyes when Tony something said to her. This time, there was only an audio of the loud music

    “Well, it was up to you. We are not together or anything,” she tried to stay neutral.

    Tony put his arm around her torso and pulled her body closer to his. “Oh, come on Adeline, I can see in your eyes,” he was smiling. It wasn’t a smirk or any other devilish expression. It was a pure smile on his lips. The chocolate eyes were looking into the green ones.

     “Are you quoting Lionel Richie’s song Hello?” she asked. And before he could say anything else, Adeline pulled him even closer and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. When she pulled away, her eyes squinted and now she was the one with a smirk on the face. “Do you realize we didn’t clean our teeth?”

    He laughed and brushed her hair with his fingers. “You still have the toothbrush here.” Tony could stare into that face for the rest of his life. Despite the messy hair and little panda eyes, she was still beautiful to him. He kissed the tip of her nose.

    “Do you really mean this?” she had to ask. “You are Tony fucking Stark,” she winked with one eye. “All the women want you. Well, I didn’t at first.”

    “But you do now,” he leaned his forehead against hers. “I’m charming as hell and I Tony fucking Stark – oh I love this – want only one woman and that is you.”

    “Oh, I can’t believe this - you can be so romantic,” she sighed with a smile on the lips. “So, do you really want me here?”

    “Not just here, baby. But I do really want you. Stay, okay? We’ll spend the day together. We can have sex and more sex and also we can work on our plan. What do you say?” His hand went down on her thigh and he was gently caressing it up and down. Then it went only up to her womanhood and he surprisingly gasped. “Ah! No underwear?”

    “Put that hand away, Stark. Didn’t you have enough this morning?”

    “Not enough with you, Adeline,” he was smiling like an innocent angel but he did as she told him. “I mean it Adeline, all of this. I should have told you earlier.”

    “Can I trust you?” she asked with a smile.

    “And can I trust you?” he gently stroked her cheek. They asked the question like that time when Tony discovered her abilities and who she really was. He pulled her closer and once again kissed her on the lips. “Okay, we really need to clean our teeth.”

     “Agreed,” she laughed. Together they stood up from the sofa. Adeline left her purse on it and slowly went to the bathroom situated on the ground floor.

    “One more detail, Adeline,” Tony quickly ran to the woman. “Why were you throwing glasses and a bottle of alcohol?”

    “I was mad at you.”

    “And that was the reason why you had to throw glasses at me,” his face changed to a funny grimace. “That wasn’t nice and you know that. I should punish you.”

    “Can it wait for three minutes? I need to clean my teeth, Tony. And so do you,” her palm was suddenly on his cheek, sweetly caressing it. “Hey, I have a question – when did Rhodes leave? Is he coming here? What if he comes in the middle of shower sex?”

    “So you want sex in the shower. You are a wild girl,” he slapped her on the ass and his hand stayed there for a while…

    …   

    “JARVIS? Where is Tony?” Rhodes came to the billionaire’s mansion unexpectedly. He tried to call him. He also called Adeline but she wasn’t responding too. He was worried about her. What if something happened to her? She lost her at the party and from that moment he didn’t know anything about her.

    ~ _Mr. Stark is in the workshop_ , ~ the AI replied once again calmly as always. ~ _Should I tell him about your arrival? ~_

    “That’s not necessary. Thank you,” the man went straight away to the workshop where the genius was probably working on his suits. Maybe he wasn’t interested in Adeline at all. If he was, Tony would call him and ask about her. After some seconds later, when he came to the glass door, he proved his theory.  Tony’s hands were caressing someone’s tights. Feminine hands were wrapped around his neck and she was giving him kisses. Probably she was just another one-night stand for Tony. James opened the door and stepped in. “Stark?!”

    “Can’t you see I’m busy at the moment?” he mumbled while he was kissing the woman.

    “Are you kidding me? While you are here making yourself happy with another one-night stand, I’m trying to find Adeline. I haven’t heard from her since the party,” he rolled his eyes.

    The woman stopped kissing Tony and her head popped out from behind Tony. “Hey pal,” Adeline smiled at the man with dark chocolate skin. “I’m fine; you don’t have to worry about me. And I am not a one-night stand,” one of her index fingers was threatening both of the men.

    “No way,” there was a little smile on his face. “So you two are finally together? What took you so long?”

    “Mm, I don’t know if we are together,” she looked into Tony’s eyes, one eyebrow went up. “I don’t trust this guy,” she mocked him with words. One of her hands slipped down from his neck to his chest and even further down. She was still scanning his face, smiling like a devil and waiting for his reaction. Adeline loved teasing him. She did it a few hours ago when they were together taking a shower.

    He quietly gasped and closed his eyes. He could feel her touch on his starting erection. “Yeah,” he sighed, “I don’t know if I can trust this woman too.” If Rhodes wasn’t there, Tony would fuck her right on the table she was sitting on. “Do you need anything else, my friend, because we are in the middle of something here?”

    “Don’t worry, I’m leaving. I just wanted to know if Adeline is safe and as I can see, she is in good hands - literally. Have a nice afternoon. And next time, please when I call you, the decent thing you should do is to pick up the call, Stark.” With that, James left the workshop with a grimace on his face.

    After the door was closed, Adeline put her right hand under Tony’s trousers and slowly, teasingly stroked his semi-hard shaft. “Didn’t you have enough?” she smiled, leaned closer and kissed his lips. His hands were immediately under the Black Sabbath shirt she wore, gently groping her breasts. “We should be working,” she said while kissing his sweet lips. Tony was heavily breathing while the brunette was playing with him. She took the opportunity and her tongue slipped into his mouth, exploring it.

    “Um, my naughty girl,” he tried to catch a breath when she pulled away from him, smiling. “Where did you learn all these things?” he caught her hand and she stopped stroking his length. “All this teasing and playing with me…”

    “I am good, baby. Believe me,” she winked at him.

    “I already believe you,” he laughed a little.

    “Ha! That was easy.”

    “God, Adeline, I want you so badly,” he took a deep breath. “I feel like a horny teenager again.”

    “You are a horny teenager, Stark,” she brushed his dark hair with fingers. “Would you like to hear a confession?”

    “Always,” his eyes were suddenly shining.

    Adeline kissed his lips, slowly grabbed the end of his black shirt and put it off, tossing it somewhere behind him. “You are the best fuck I’ve ever had. And I love it.” She knew his ego would fly out to the sky. “You have this moves which drive me crazy.”

    “Fuck, woman, you must really like me,” he was suddenly roughly kissing her sweet lips, biting the bottom lip. He did the same what she did a while ago. The Black Sabbath shirt was gone and both of them were shirtless, adoring the view they had. Adeline focused on his ARC reactor and firm figure. Tony’s abs and muscles were just like she liked it – he didn’t have to be a flying muscular balloon. He had strong hands and every time he made a move, whether he took something heavy or lifted her, his biceps would show up.

    Tony was looking at her breasts. They were perfect for him – something medium, fully fitting into his hands and he loved to play with them. “Oh yeah, baby,” she replied after a while and gasped when his mouth started to nibble her right nipple. “So, what now Tony? Are you going to fuck me like this early morning - up against the piano?”

    “You want that? Just ask for it and you can have it,” he looked into her eyes, still squeezing both of her breasts with his hands. “I always wanted a woman like you. I can’t take it any longer. I must have you.”

    …

    “How many times we did it?”

     “Well, after the party, shower, my bed then we had a pause. We did it again after the late lunch. When Rhodey left we did it on my table. Then we did if before we went to bed; two times in the morning and before we left my place,” Tony smiled like a child. “If you want, we can do it now in the car.”

    “As much as I’d love to, I think we need a bigger pause than one or two hours. You really broke me, Stark. I feel like I was riding a bull,” she winked at him. “Anyway, I need to go home and take care of some things. And I don’t want to bother…”

    “Don’t you dare say it, Adeline,” he interrupted her. “You are not bothering anyone. I just don’t like that you want to go home. You are safe with me.”

    “Will you stop?” she laughed at him. “You are complaining, whimpering about it ever since I told you that I would like to go to my apartment,” her hand was suddenly on his shoulder, gently rubbing the thumb against it. “How about we make a deal?”

    “I’m listening.”

    She unbelted her body from the seat and leaned closer to the man. She started to whisper into his ear while he tried to focus on the road. “I’ll go to my place, pack some clothing, cosmetics and my suit of course and while I’ll be there you can go to the local shop and buy some quality alcohol. How about vodka, hm? And then you’ll come back for me and I’ll go with you.” Adeline was smiling. “Do you like this offer?” 

    The car slowly stopped. They were in front of Adeline’s building. “The truth is, I don’t have vodka in my bar…”

    “I know, that’s why I suggested it,” her eyes seductively blinked. “So, do we have a deal?”

    Tony leaned to her and gently kissed her lips. “Well, I think we have a deal. You go upstairs and start packing and I’ll be back in twenty minutes.” After he said it they both started to kiss passionately. Tony was driving without the belt the whole time and now he had a better and faster access to the woman. He wrapped his strong hands around her waist and didn’t let her go. Their tongues were playing together, fighting for dominance but none of them won.

     “Mhm, I can’t believe this is happening,” said Adeline after they stopped kissing; their noses were still touching. “It’s so surreal.” Her tongue suddenly licked his bottom lip and she laughed. “See you in a few minutes.” With that, Adeline took her purse with the dress, opened the door and left the car, leaving Tony alone. He was looking at her until he lost her inside of the building.

    Adeline was smiling like a crazy little girl. She felt happy, satisfied and even fulfilled. A crimson color appeared on her cheeks. When she was standing in the elevator, she got to think about the past few days. It was way too unbelievable but she liked it. Being with Tony, even when it was only for two days, was amazing. They had a very good time. When they didn’t have sex, they were talking about some funny moments in their lives, discovering something from their past.

    When she got into the apartment, everything looked like before, nothing changed. The brunette opened the balcony door so the fresh air could get in. She took off Tony’s clothes she wore for the past two days and with some clean one she hid in the bathroom. She even took a mobile phone with her. Adeline sat on the toilet and sent a short message to Tony – a kissing emoji. She was once again blushing like a little girl! While she waited for his response, she put on clean black lingerie, denim shorts and a black t-shirt with a lace pattern on it. Her phone rang while she was dressing up.

     Tony sent her a photo of the bottle of vodka. **YOU LIKE THIS ONE?**

    There was a smirk on her face. Before she could reply, the woman heard a noise coming from the other room. She immediately set Tony’s number for an emergency call and then she slowly opened the door. Adeline was prepared to fight in every situation. When she slowly stepped out from the bathroom and looked around, she saw a figure of a man standing on the balcony, enjoying the view. Her green eyes widened and she stopped breathing.

    Before the man turned to her, she pressed the “call” button on the screen and put the mobile into her pocket of the shorts. In a second, she was facing the unexpected visitor.

    “Hello, Adeline,” Goth smiled.


	15. Chapter fifteen – Kidnapping

**Chapter fifteen – Kidnapping**

                     “It’s been a long time, Adeline,” Goth said.

“What are you doing here?” the woman said with an uncertain tone. The mobile in the pocket was still dialing Tony’s number. She clenched her fists and stayed still while looking into the devil’s face. Goth’s lips made an evil grin which brought shivers to woman’s back. He wore his special suit – unfortunately, this time, it was upgraded and that wasn’t a good sign. He had those big goggles on his nose, the gray hair was messy and his suit was on alert.

     He took a step closer to her, hiding hands behind his back. “I think you already know the answer.”

    While they were talking, Tony finally answered Adeline’s call. His eyebrows lifted up and he put the device to his ear. He already paid for the alcohol and was now heading to his car. “Hey babe, do you need anything else?” he smiled.

 _-What do you want from me?_ \- he heard Adeline’s voice full of fear.

    “Ad?” Tony was confused. He looked at his device and clicked on in. He was working with a better audio. Her voice was muffled. “Ad, you hear me?"

    -Oh, little girl, you know what I want. And when I want something, I’ll do everything just to get it, - Goth’s voice said from the other side. Tony’s eyes widened and his heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t expecting this rapid change of a situation. With the phone in his hand, he ran to the car and opened it. It was a matter of seconds. What if he hurts her?

    Goth was standing in the same place, looking at the brunette. His voice was confident and there was a dark spark in his eyes. He showed the woman his white teeth which made her unpleasantly shiver. “What did you think girl, that I am stupid and won’t find out you are the famous Guardian?” When he made a move forward, the brunette took a step back and surrounded herself with the shield. The purple color was shining and sparkling around her, protecting the feminine body. The man started to laugh. “Well, you are not that tough as I thought you would be.”

     “Why are you doing this?” she had to ask. Adeline did everything she could to refrain the conversation. She was hoping Tony would appear any second. “You want my ability so you could threaten the world? Why?”

    “Power is the strongest unit in this world. With power, you can have everything and everybody on their knees. The world would be looking up to me, claiming me as their God and leader,” he tried to explain.  “I know what you are trying to do, Montana,” he said her surname. “Since I couldn’t find your family, I knew where to find you. The technology is brilliant these days. And here we are,” he saw the shield disappear. The woman was carefully listening to him.

    “Leave my family alone,” she gritted her teeth. “This is just between you and me you son-of-a-bitch.”

    “Oh, you are entertaining me? How lovely,” he laughed. “Now I have you and that’s all I ever needed.”

    “How can you be so sure?” one of her perfectly fixed eyebrows went up. “I almost killed you…”

    “Yeah,” he grinned, “almost. However, I got away and then you were attacked by the famous Iron Man. Darling, I know everything that had happened. I know about you from the beginning. I just needed to start a war. Yes, I have to admit my plans didn’t work as I planned them but,” he took a dramatic deep breath, “in the end, look where we are.” Goth stretched his arms, showing and pointing at the woman’s apartment. “I’m here and you are now mine.”

     Before the brunette could fight back or protect herself, two strong hands grabbed her wrists and put them behind her back. She felt something cold and tights on the wrists. They put them in handcuffs. Her green eyes were wide opened from the unexpected situation. Goth brought two men to help them capture her. For the whole time, they were standing in the hallway, ready to attack her and Adeline didn’t even notice them. How could she be that blind? She painfully sighed, made a weird sound from the throat and looked at the man in front of her. “No! Let me go you motherfucker!” she screamed.

    “Sobbing won’t help you.”

    “No! You can’t….!”

    He gently stroked her cheek. “Such a beautiful face,” he mumbled under his big nose. “You gave up so easily, little girl. I am thankful for that,” he winked at her.  The last thing Adeline could remember was his stupid smile on the lips and then, with a strong punch right into her head, she was surrounded by darkness…

    Tony was on his way to her apartment. He was cursing under his nose for not bringing the suit with him. How stupid could he actually be? It was only twenty fucking minutes – for twenty minutes he was gone and everything changed. Goth must have known about their plans. Back on the Gala, he said he knew everything about her and the Montana family. Tony had the phone in his ear, holding it with the left shoulder while he was driving. He could hear the whole conversation and he also heard the scream.

    “Adeline!” he screamed too in the car. Everything was fucked up. When Tony finally got to her building, the line went off. He immediately called Rhodes while he was running to the elevator. He was lucky that it was already on the ground floor.

     Before the door closed, James picked up the call. – _What is it Tony?_ \- he asked. – _I am kind of busy at the moment. This better be good.-_

    “You have to fly here, now!”

_-What’s going on Tony? What happened?-_

    The dark haired man punched the elevator wall with his fist. It was slow and it made him even angrier. “That motherfucker!” he yelled. “Rhodes, he got Adeline! Fuck!” he was yelling. The elevator stopped on her floor and he ran to her apartment. He remembered where she lived. When he got to the door they were already opened. “Fuck! Shit-fuck!”

_-Are you serious? How is that possible?!-_

    Tony looked around. He saw his clothes on the bed, the door to the balcony were open and no one was present except him. “He has her,” he whispered, not believing his own words. “I can’t believe this happened.” He took the Black Sabbath shirt to his hands and put it to his face. He could still smell her scent. “Rhodes, come to my place as soon as possible. We have to find her.”

    -You owe me an explanation, Stark – James snarled and with that the line went off.

    Tony stood there for another minute. He was looking around, trying to find something that might help him with the search. His eyes landed on a picture frame, standing on the bookshelf. There was a photo of her with her friends. Adeline was smiling there, holding a drink, probably vodka or martini, in her hand and she wore a birthday hat. She was the birthday girl. There was another woman he knew – she worked with Adeline and died a few weeks ago when Goth attacked the bar where they worked. There was another photo. It was just a younger Adeline with shorter hair, holding a dog in her hands. She had that beautiful smile on her lips which made him sigh sadly.

     “I’ll bring you back to me, baby,” he said those words to himself, being dead serious.

    …

     When Tony came to his workshop hidden in his mansion, Rhodes was already there in the War Machine suit. The mask was lifted up and he was angrily looking at his friend. His dark eyes were even darker. “Are fucking kidding me, Tony?” those were his first words. “Tell me how that happened. How is it possible that Goth has Adeline?”

    Tony sat on the office chair and took a mobile device from the pocket of the jeans. “She wanted to go home…”

    “And you just let her?” James interrupted him; his voice was high and unpleasant.

    “For Christ sake, Rhodes, let me finish!” he barked. While he was talking to his friend, he was working on the device. “She wanted to go home. I didn’t agree but we made a deal. She went to her apartment just to pack some clothes and her suite while I went to the local shop and bought us a bottle of vodka because we wanted to have a nice evening together. It was just twenty-fucking-minutes, Rhodes…” he put his fingers into his hair and brushed them. “Fuck, I can’t believe this happened.” His right hand was suddenly on his chest. Somewhere inside of him, there was this unpleasant feeling which made him close the chocolate eyes for a moment. He had to take some deep breaths before he could continue with the work.

    They were both quiet for a minute. Tony was looking on the ground, silently thinking about the situation. He threw the device on the table and sighed. James, on the other hand, scanned Tony’s workshop with his dark brown eyes. Slowly moving in the suit, thinking about some plan, he asked: “Didn’t she have something with her? You know something we can track – a mobile or a tracking device that you gave her?”

    Tony’s eyes were suddenly sparkling with hope. “JARVIS?!”

_~Yes, sir?~_

    “I need you to track down my old mobile phone I gave to Adeline. I think she might still have it with her. She called me about half an hour ago. Search for the number from my device and try to track it. If we are lucky enough, there is a chance she might have it with her,” he stood up and started to work with his hands when a blue hologram appeared in front of him. “It’s a matter of seconds, JARVIS.”

_~As you with, sir. I found a signal, sir. The mobile is fully operational. I’m showing you the map with the location of the device.~_

     A giant map was shown to the men. James came closer to Tony and looked at the hologram. At first, there was a map of the whole world and it was slowly getting closer to the map of America. When there was a map of California, a red spot appeared near the state. Tony moved his hands and clicked on the spot. It was pointing at Santa Catalina Island. The map showed him an island where were two small towns and nothing more.

_~Sir, the signal which weakens is coming from the middle of the island. There is an old abandoned house, so it is possible that Miss Montana is there. I’m afraid I won’t be able to hold the signal for too long. The flight to this place in your suit is less than fifteen minutes, sir.~_

    “Save the location and prepare my suit,” Tony put down an expensive watch from the left hand and got ready for the Iron Man suit. “I’m coming for my girl and I’m going to kill that son-of-a-bitch,” Stark took a deep breath. “This ends once and for all.”

    “Wow, you must really like her,” James smiled.

    “You bet I do!”

    …

_Such a beautiful young woman and look at her… Her destiny ends right here…_

    Adeline slowly opened her eyes. Those words were ringing in her head, making the body wince. Arms and legs were belted against the thing she was lying on. Was it a bed or a table? Before she could clearly see, she heard someone talking. “Secure the place and kill if you have to. I don’t want anyone to disturb me while I’m working.” And another sound of was heard in the room – a brisk walking. When she could finally see clearly, a man came closer to her and looked into her pale face. Goth was smiling; his devilish eyes had a happy spark which made the woman wince once again. “Don’t worry, Adeline. You won’t be able to escape. Your arms and legs are well-tightened. However, if you are expecting someone to save you, I’m afraid that won’t happen.” He was wearing his suit that was for sure.

    The brunette didn’t say anything. She was looking at him, keeping her own thought for herself. Was everything useless? Was her life at the end of the path she was walking on for thirty years? All she was doing was partying, enjoying life and protecting the innocent women and girls. Even though it was fun and wild, she missed so many things – spending time with the family, mocking her sister, finding the perfect guy for a stable relationship. She had to roll her eyes. Why was she thinking about this right now?

    “You look very amused, Montana. Your last minutes in this world and you are rolling your eyes,” he laughed. “What are you thinking about? How you let your family down? How you disappointed your father? Don’t worry. When you’re gone, I’ll personally call and inform him of your death.”

    The woman hummed. “I’m just thinking,” she started to talk, “why is my death so amusing? Doesn’t it bother you, seeing a young person die?”

    “Seeing you die – actually no. You have something that belongs to me. I want it and you have to die so I can have it,” he explained calmly. “Would you like to hear a story before you close your sweet eyes forever?”

    “Do I ever?” she replied sarcastically.

    He clenched his fist. Before Goth could speak, he took a deep breath. She was annoying him with her sarcasm. “Did your father ever talked about our friendship? I bet he didn’t. We were best friends,” he started to explain the past whilst he was moving with an object Adeline couldn’t see. “We studied together, attended the same university. Later, we worked for the same organization.” A rattling sound came from her left side. What was he doing? “When we were twenty, we decided to create something unique. Something that would change the world and we would be famous for it. We had many brilliant ideas and some of them were realized. One day, your father came with the idea of creating a serum – similar to the one that created the famous Captain America.”

    “Captain America?” she was laughing. “Please, don’t start with a funny fairytale while you are talking about this romantic, heart-breaking story about you and my father.”

     In a second, he was standing above her, looking into the green orbs and smirking. “Such a sassy mouth,” he stated.

    “I know. That’s my hidden talent,” the woman smiled.

     She felt a hand around her neck. The fingers were roughly digging into the skin, making her choke. Her eyes were wide open, looking at the man above her. She tried to catch a breath. “One more word girl and I will kill you with my bare hands,” and then he let her throat be. Adeline took a deep painful breath. “If you really wish to die, all you have to do is ask.”

    The brunette remained quiet, her eyes focusing on the ceiling above her. It was better than the face of that monster. Very slowly and inconspicuously, she tried to turn her hands, so the back of it would touch the table. It was very hard to do, but while Goth was talking about his life, and preparing a machine for the woman, she set her hands to protect herself.

    “Now, my sweet child,” once again, he was standing next to the table where she was lying. “Let’s begin with the surgery, shall we?” he laughed. He took a needle from a small table and showed it to her. “Don’t worry, this won’t sting.” Before he could proceed, Adeline tried her best and made a move with hands, creating the shield around her. When the purple beauty surrounded her, Goth made a contact with it and he was suddenly on the other side of the room, cruelly falling on a table with a computer on it. All she heard was a smash.

    “Hold it, hold it, hold It,” she was talking to herself, focusing on the shield. Now she had some time to think about a plan – plan that would get her out from this place. Her hands were hurting her; there was a drop of sweat on her forehead.

    “Well, would you look at that,” Goth grunted and slowly got up on his feet. There was a wound on his eyebrow and it was bleeding.

    “Unexpected, wasn’t it?” Adeline said sarcastically.

    “Don’t fight, girl. You will lose this fight,” said the man and went back to her, but not way too close. “It’s just a matter of minutes when you will turn it down and I will kill you,” he smirked. A weird noise was coming from the outside. It made the man frown.

    “I’m not going to give up, old man. I will fight until I can breathe,” the woman hissed. “I never give up!” she said it out loud, trying to encourage herself. Another banging noise was heard. This time, it was closer, almost knocking on the entrance door. With another crunched sound, the door forcibly opened and two men in suits stepped inside. “Tony!” she had to scream.

    The Iron Man looked around and found his girl surrounded with the purplish shield. He had to frown. “That’s it, flame boy! Give me back my girl,” one of his arms was aiming at him, ready to attack. War Machine was standing behind him, scanning the room. “Rhodes, get Adeline. I’ll handle this bastard.”

     Rhodey moved forward to Adeline. She was just waiting for him to be closer, so she could turn down the shield. Tony, on the other hand, made his way to the man, still aiming at him. “Stark,” said Goth calmly, “we meet again. Unfortunately, this will be for the last time.”

    “You are annoying, has anyone told you that?” Tony sighed behind the mask.

    Adeline canceled the shield. Rhodey ripped off the belts and put her closer to his armor. She was ready to protect her or even the men. The brunette wasn’t hiding in Rhodey’s arms. She was facing Goth. They have to end it once and for all – they have to end him. She was scanning the room with her eyes, looking for any weapon or an iron stick. “Are you alright?” James asked her.

    “Yeah, I’m fine,” she nodded.

    “You want to finish it, Stark?” Goth stretched a little bit. “Okay, let’s finish this,” and his arms made a quick move. It activated his odd but sophisticated, dangerous suit. Tony held his breath for a moment. Last time he saw Goth’s suit was just a piece of technology, which was powerful, but this time, it was much more advanced than before. One of the tentacles attacked Tony. He had to jump and he immediately started with the blasting. There was no way he would let that bastard win.

    In a minute, there was a small explosion and fire. Adeline protected her and James with the shield, while Tony was flying around, trying to knock him down. “Get her out of here!” Tony said to his best friend through a speaking device installed in the suit. “Get _her_ out of here!”

    “What about you?” Rhodes asked and Adeline could hear it.

    “I’m not leaving you here, Tony!” she growled.

    “Just go!”  


	16. Chapter sixteen - Till my last breath

**Chapter sixteen - Till my last breath**

                     Rhodey was holding Adeline in his arms when they landed on a ground, far away from the building. He did as Tony told him to. The old house looked like a doll house from the spot they were standing now. War Machine let her go and his mask opened. “Why? Why on earth would he say that?” Adeline was furious, walking from a place to place like a lion in a cage. Her fists were clenched and she was frowning. The long brown hair was messy and it was falling on her face. She brushed it behind an ear. “We should be there. We should help Tony!”

    “I don’t like it just as much as you do, Adeline,” James said, looking at the house. Nothing was happening there. The surroundings were calm and quiet. “But he wanted you to be safe.”

    “I don’t fucking care if I’m safe or not,” she yelled. “I want to kill that motherfucker,” and then she angrily jumped like a little girl. She never experienced this kind of rage. The blood was boiling in her veins, making her go insane. The brunette took a deep breath, closed her eyes and stopped talking for a second. “I just,” she whispered calmly. “I hope he will get out of there safe, without any wounds.”

    The man in a suit came closer to her and carefully put a hand on her shoulder. She could feel the cold metal on her exposed flesh. “It’s Tony, Adel. He’s going to be just fine.”

    “Oh, he better,” she replied and dryly gulped. “Otherwise, I’ll be the one who kills him.”

    The next five minutes were like hell for her. Nothing was happening, only some birds were singing on the trees. Adeline’s green eyes were focused on the house, hypnotizing it. There were no signs of Tony or Goth. They were probably in the house, fighting. She knew Tony pretty well, and she knew Tony would do anything to provoke him by using his wide vocabulary of insults and vulgarisms. She could imagine his angry face with a stupid smirk on it while calling him… flame body, the man in fire and etcetera. But this was killing her – waiting for him outside, not able to help him. James was quietly standing next to her, also gazing at the house. His body was prepared to take action if necessary.

    “I don’t like this,” Rhodes whispered.

    “Oh, really?” she replied sarcastically and started to move forward. “We should –“ she was cut off. A massive explosion was heard and seen. The flames were gigantic and dangerously looking. This was typical for Goth – fire, huge flames, and explosions. Suddenly, the house was gone, only some parts of it were flying around. The brunette held her breath and touched her chest. “TONY!” she screamed. The green eyes were wide open, shining with fear and shock. When she took another step forward, James immediately put her into his iron embrace. “Let me go!”

    “Adeline,” he roughly said her name.

    “Let me go!” When she made a quick move with her hands, James rather stepped back. She wanted to use her shield on him and that was a very dangerous move. Adeline was free from him and now she could run to the house. She felt pain inside her. What if Tony died? What if he’s hurt and needs her help? Why would Rhodes try to stop her?

    “Adeline!” a male voice called her name. It wasn’t Rhodes. It belonged to someone different. When the woman stopped and turned around, the green eyes saw Tony standing next to War Machine. His mask was opened and he was smiling at her. “Why so angry and sad?” he mocked her.

    That was it for her. She angrily ran to him, her fists were clenched and started to yell at him. “You little piece of shit, Stark!” she screamed. Why did he do that? She was scared, she thought he was hurt. Adeline punched him on the chest. Her fists could only taste the durable suit. “Fuck, Stark! You are an idiot. A fucking idiot!”

    “Hey, calm down,” he was giggling. The way she wanted to hurt him only made Tony laugh.

    “Calm down? Seriously?!” she gritted her teeth and looked into his brown amused eyes. “Get out! Get out from the suit, Tony! I want to kick your motherfucking ass, you dumb asshole!”

    “Hey! Whoa!” he stepped back. “Baby, I’m fine. Everything is-“

    “Don’t baby me!” she tried to punch him one more time, but his hands grabbed hers by wrists and didn’t let them go. “Stark! Let me go! Let-“ Tony cut her off by sweetly kissing her on the pink lips. He knew how to shush and calm her down. It worked before when they had an argument in the bed a few hours ago. The brunette ended with everything, calmed down and kissed him back. “Fuck,” she breathed when she had the opportunity. Tony didn’t stop with the kissing until he was sure Adeline’s rage was perfectly gone.

    “And everything is well,” James laughed, trying to look somewhere else.

    “You are ruining the moment,” Tony stopped kissing his girl and glanced at his best friend.

    “What happened there?” the brunette took a deep breath and looked into Tony’s chocolate eyes looking for any kind of answer. Luckily, his face was without any wounds and scratches.

    “Well,” the Iron Man started to explain the whole situation, walking from place to place between the two people. “When you two left, we had a little talk. Goth was mean to me, he said some horrible things about us and the fight was instantly on. He thought he could kill me with his super technology,” Tony rolled his eyes. “However, I was faster, knocked him down and escaped before the explosion. I must admit I was impressed by his suit. Now I call him the Octopussy.”

    “You killed him?” she was shocked.

    “Um, I hope I did.”

    “You hope?” she was frowning again. “Okay, we have to check if he’s dead or not, otherwise, I’m not going anywhere until we kill him!” that was her order and the men refused to accept it.

    Tony turned to his best friend and looked into his dark chocolate face. “Rhodey, I believe the best we can do right now is it to return back to my house. If Goth survived, he’ll do anything to get Adeline and, once again, he’ll try to kill us. We need to be ready,” he breathed. When he looked again at Adeline, he felt happiness mixed with fear. He can’t lose that woman. She was way too special to him. “Baby, I’ll do anything to protect you, you know that?”

    She nodded. “I know, but I can take care of myself, Tony. If we are going to fight, I will. I’ll fight until my last breath.”

    “So you really don’t know if you killed him,” James whispered and came closer to Adeline. When Tony’s head shook he took a long loud deep breath. His mask closed down. “Alright, we’ll meet at your place, Tony. We don’t have much time. I will quickly check the surroundings and inform you if there’s any unusual activity,” and he flew into the sky, leaving the two of them alone.

    “Ad?” Tony said her name very carefully. “I-“

    “Don’t” she stopped him by putting a finger on his lips. “Maybe I don’t look like it, but I understand,” she gave him an innocent smile and went closer to him. “Just promise me you’ll be okay. No matter what will happen, how the fight will end, you have to promise you’ll be fine, Tony.” They were staring at each other, almost not breathing. She was so close to him and all he wanted was to touch her body and have her closer to him. Maybe later there will be time for cuddling.

    “And you promise me the same,” his lips crooked into a smile. He leaned to her and very slowly, gently kissed her soft lips. This kiss was something new for her. It was caring, full of love and devotion. His tongue asked for a permission to enter and she accepted it, opening her mouth and the kiss deepened. Adeline was glad Tony showed this new side of him. She was now sure he liked her. “Okay baby,” he, even when he didn’t like it, ended the kiss and looked into the green orbs. “Get ready for the ride of your life.”

    She laughed. “I already had one,” she winked at him. Tony’s hands hugged her from behind. “That night when you attacked me on the roof, remember? It was when I tried to kill that bastard.”

    In a second, both of them were flying away from the island. Tony perfectly remembered the night. It was the first time he discovered that his Adeline is the famous Guardian. She could hear a laugh from behind the mask which was already closed. “Oh, that was our first fight. I must say, I was amused when you tried to attack me with those… sticks.”

    “I can fight with them!”

    “Of course, you can, Adeline,” he mocked her.

_-You two are having a good time?_ – Rhodey was on the line with Stark. Even Adeline could hear it.

    “Where are you, Rhodes? I thought you’ll be our company,” Tony replied, tightly holding Adeline around her waist from behind. Her body was steady like she has done it before. 

_-And watch you two kissing and having a dirty…. INCOMING!-_ James screamed and a loud shot was heard from afar. _–SHIT!-_

    “What’s happening?” Adeline asked. She saw a bright red-orange light in front of them.

    _-He’s heading to you!-_

    “Hold tight!” Tony warned the brunette and together they sharply flew down. They were already over the sea. “Rhodes! Get here and take Adeline, before…” he was stopped by a shooting. Goth was getting closer to them. Iron Man changed the direction of flying and they went up in the air. War Machine was ready to help them. When he saw them close enough, he went to Adeline and took her from Tony.

    “Fucking hell!” she screamed.

     “Are you alright?” James asked her from behind the mask. He tried not to hurt her. Another shooting started. This time, Rhodes felt it on the back of the suit. Goth was after them. “Since when can he fly and what about the shooting?” he sounded surprised.  And before he could do something, the firing stopped.

    “What’s happening?” Adeline screamed. She wasn’t scared. She was worried about Tony and James. They were risking their lives for her, even when they didn’t have to. “We need to help Tony! He can’t die for me! No one can die! Only Goth!”

    “No! We have to get you somewhere on the ground. This is dangerous!”

    “Rhodes!” she warned him with an angry voice. They were flying higher. His hands were holding her by the waist, just like Tony did a few minutes ago.

    _-Let her go!-_ a voice said.

    “Are you crazy, Tony?” Rhodey wasn’t sure about his plan.

    _-Just do it!-_

    Before the brunette could protest, James let her go during the flight. Her body was suddenly so light and free. It was a free fall – a very dangerous one. A scream was heard from her throat. The body even made a flip. Luckily, Tony was suddenly there to catch her by wrists. “I got you, baby!”

    “Why do I have to be clever? Why can’t I be stupid and have wings or can fly?” she said roughly, almost without any breath. Her long brown hair was messy and she had a pale face. “I’d rather be stupid just to have those fucking wings!”

    “That is not an option!”

    “Fuck!”

    Her legs were in the air and the feeling that she wasn’t stable frightened her. This was the craziest thing that ever happened to her. “Don’t worry! In a few minutes, we’ll be back in L.A!”

    “I’m going to kill the three of you, Stark! Goth for trying to kill us and kidnap me again and you with Rhodes for what are you doing to me at the moment! I love flying, but now I hate it! You owe me big, Tony! You owe me really big!”

    He laughed at the most inappropriate time. “Okay, fine, I owe you, Adeline.”

     - _Where’s Goth?-_ James asked him via a speaking system installed in both of the suits. – _I can’t see him.-_

    “He’s not here,” Tony replied. “Maybe, he changed…”

    “Aaah!” The brunette screamed. It was a moment, only a second when someone grabbed her by ankles and swiped her down. Strong hands held her. She was upside down, looking straightly at the sea and flying back on the island. When her eyes spotted the person who was holding her, she panicked. Her legs did everything to get away from his grip.

    A rough-house started. Adeline couldn’t focus on the fight. They were fighting for her, calling or yelling her name while they tried to rescue her. Sometimes she felt Rhodey’s suit, sometimes Tony’s, but no matter how hard they tried, she ended up in Goth’s arms. He was strong, advanced and dangerous. Maybe they should let her go. Before she could do something, she heard a strong pitch noise. Her head was fuzzy and she could only see a white light. Did someone hit her head? There was a possibility. A wet stripe of something warm ran down her temporal. It had to be blood. What happened?

_If I can’t have you, no one can…_

    The green eyes were suddenly wide open when she realized she was falling down again. Her coordination was horrible, and the head hurt her like hell. For the last time, she heard her name and saw three figures flying in the air. The right hand tried to reach them, but couldn’t.

_Adeline…_

    Her eyes then found one thing – the last thing they saw – an object flying right to her. It was a rocket. The brunette took a deep breath and moved her hand just when the rocket exploded.

    “No!” Tony screamed. “Adeline!”

    He watched her fall, he watched her die. Goth got what he wanted. If he couldn’t have her, neither could Tony. The billionaire’s heart broke, silvery tears appeared in his eyes behind the mask. The pain started to mix with anger and agony. There was only one thing he wanted more and that was revenge.

    “What is it, Stark? Did I kill your girlfriend?” Goth laughed.

    Iron Man made a quick move forward. “No, Tony, don’t,” James tried to stop him, but was too late. Tony already knew what he wanted to do.

    “I’m going to kill you, motherfucker!”

    …

    “Mr. Rhodes,” a soft female voice said behind his back. “The journalists are waiting for you, Mr. Rhodes.”

    James was standing in front of a mirror and his eyes were looking at his reflection. He wore his formal military suit with all the badges. He was supposed to give a speech about Goth, who was finally stopped and killed. There was a stung in his heart. He lost a friend that day. Unfortunately, Tony lost more than that. James took a deep breath and went to a room, where all the journalists were sitting. He stepped on a small stage with microphones. It was difficult for him. He should explain to the people what exactly happened. When he wanted an advice from Tony, he locked himself in the house, not talking to him or anyone else. The loss was unbearable.

    All of the people, with or without the cameras went quiet when Rhodes appeared. They were waiting for the speech and the news. They wanted to know everything, every single detail.

     “As a person who was in the fight, I would like to inform you of the following: Peter Tunderbalt, a.k.a. the Goth was stopped and he died two days ago, during a secret mission. There was no other option, only to kill him because he was dangerous for our world. Now, he’s no longer a threat to the people in Los Angeles or around the word. However…” he stopped for a moment. Was it a good idea to mention Adeline? “However, one member of our team tragically died that day…”

    Tony was sitting on his couch all alone, looking at a hologram where the news was. His best friend was talking about that day, giving people the information that Goth was finally stopped. The dark-haired man was holding a pillow in his hands, squeezing it tightly. His house was empty. It was killing him.

    When Rhodes talked about Adeline, his heart melted. When the fight ended, Tony did everything to find the woman. He searched for her, created small devices that could go under water and scan it. There was no result. He didn’t find her body at all.

    Goth took from him something he cared the most about.

    What is he going to do without her?

 

 

**THE END.**

 

 

 

_Or is it?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was the last chapter of Explosions (Between two of us)  
> But you know...  
> Show must go on. ;)  
> Explosions 2 - this Sunday on AO3!

**Author's Note:**

> THERE ARE SO MANY MISTAKES, GUYS. I'm so sorry.


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